The Queen and Her Knight
by Erich Zann III
Summary: Just a normal life, right? Wrong. The Union is still interfering, not only in Raizel's and Shinwoo's budding romantic lives, but also in the lives of the children altogether. And a new enemy has plans for Shinwoo beyond what any of the children could possibly have imagined.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

"Hey, Rai! You better move quick! Pedro is at the gate today! I see Ras is joining us again! That's great, Rai!" Shinwoo said cheerfully, grinning at Raskreia. Raskreia looked at Shinwoo, surprised at his name for her. She looked at Rai.

"Ras?" She asked, confused slightly.

"It's short for Raskreia. Erga Kenesis DiRaskreia is just too long a name. We call Rai Rai for the same reason." Ikhan added, hurrying after Shinwoo, but not being able to keep pace with him. Raskreia blushed slightly. She didn't want to admit that she kind of liked the name. It was really the first time anyone had treated her like a friend. She had been the Lord, she had been a daughter.

She had been the Judge and Jury in the events in Lukedonia a few months back. But never a friend. It was kind of lonely. She understood now why Raizel liked this place so much. Frankenstein may treat him with the reverence befitting the Noblesse.

But Shinwoo, Ikhan and the others just treated him like a friend. He barely ever spoke, and he hardly showed any emotion. But she could tell that he was happy, though she wasn't sure how she knew.

"You like the name Ras?" Raizel asked stoically. Raskreia sighed and thought for a minute.

"It's not that exactly. They're free to call me what they like. But I like having friends. I have been treated as a daughter, as the Lord, as judge, as executioner, as jury… But it is a lonely life… I have never been treated as a friend…" Raskreia said, blushing slightly.

"We had better hurry, _Ras_ …" Rai said, sarcastically, and with a slight smirk, causing Raskreia to blush even deeper. She had never seen the Noblesse smile even once in her entire life. Although it was not a wide smile like Shinwoo had, it was refreshing in itself.

"The gatekeeper will be angry if we are late."

Rai and Raskreia walked in through the gate just as the bell rang. Pedro looked disbelievingly at the two Nobles. He couldn't fathom how they showed so little concern for the rules of the school, or at least the starting bell.

"Well, well! You two are late! _You_ I'm used to! But who's the young lady?" Pedro asked furiously.

"Erga Kenesis Di Raskreia…" Raskreia said stoically. Pedro scratched his head cluelessly. How was he supposed to remember a name that long?

"Is she a relative of yours?" He asked Rai, who shook his head. The kids of his school, including his friends had taken to calling her his girlfriend, though Rai wasn't completely familiar with that term.

Frankenstein had explained briefly that young men of high school age often had romantic relationships with females of similar age… That it was called 'dating' because they went on outings called dates to spend time with each other.

But what was the motivation behind these 'dates'? Was it self-interest? Or perhaps a desire to find a suitable mate? Either way, the concept wasn't clear to him. He would have to ask Frankenstein for a more detailed explanation of what 'dating' was. It seemed like what he and his friends did anyhow almost every day.

"So… Is there a shorter name that I could call you?" Pedro asked, feeling completely nonplussed at these extremely long names that the foreigners in Ye Ran High School had.

"You may call me whatever you like."

"So… Which is your first name and which is your last?"

"According to this nation's customs, I suppose my surname would be Raskreia. But I fail to see the use in distinguishing first from last name save for convenience's sake."

Rai heard a buzz from his phone and checked it. It was a text from Frankenstein.

Master… Come have tea and cookies with me. Please do not bring the Lord.

"Raskreia, I must go see the headmaster. I will be in class shortly, I suspect." Rai said, moving off at a faster pace than he usually took. Raskreia sighed and looked at Pedro, who gulped, feeling sure that she was about to say something weird. These foreign students were going to be the death of him.

"Gatekeeper… Please be so kind as to show me to my first class…" The Lord said. Pedro sighed. So she didn't know how to get to her first class.

It wasn't the end of the world. He would take her there. In the past, she had always been followed by those two silver haired students like they were her bodyguards or something. But regardless, Pedro nodded and led Raskreia to class while Rai made his way to the principal's office.

"Good morning, Master…" Frankenstein said deferentially, standing and bowing as Rai walked in, silent as usual.

"Please, sit down. I have something important to discuss with you. I am aware that you would not under normal circumstances even consider enhancement.

"Certainly you are already more powerful by far than any other Noble, even those who have been modified, such as Roctis Kravei and his daughter, Ignes. But I feel that perhaps enhancement could increase your rapidly fading life force. I have done projections using your approximate abilities and physical capabilities, and 99.99999% of the 5,000,000 projections have ended in complete success.

"Bioenergy Manipulation. It is an extraordinarily powerful ability. Your Aura is already intensely powerful. Bioenergy Manipulation will allow you to absorb an enemy's Aura. I suspect that if you practice, you can continue to live an extremely long life. You can continue to live with your friends and with me."

"If you use your Bioenergy Manipulation when you face those with significant Aura, which is, at its root, Bioenergy, you may be able to live longer."

"Frankenstein. Would the Bioenergy inherent in others not be incompatible with my own Bioenergy? For instance, a Werewolf is known to have strong Bioenergy, as are the Elders of The Union. However, they are Werewolves and Humans respectively. Would their Bioenergy not be different enough that I could not utilize it?"

"If my projections are correct, the Bioenergy of the Noblesse, that is, you, Master, would forcibly convert any Bioenergy that you absorb. Your Bioenergy is potent enough that any other Bioenergy would simply be absorbed."

"This would make me a Modified Noble, though… Correct? I am not certain that I am comfortable going on this route. I have always overwhelmed opponents with superior power with no need for petty modifications such as Roktis Kravei and Ignes Kravei had."

"But, Master!"

"I understand that you are concerned for my wellbeing. However, allow me some time to think about it. If it becomes necessary, I will go into Hibernation again for a short time, and in my Hibernation, you may attempt to stabilize my condition.

"However, I am aware of the other Nobles' opinion of Modified Beings, and am not ready yet to betray that most fundamental tenet, prejudiced and ignorant as it may be."

"I understand, Master. I respect your decision." Frankenstein said deferentially, bowing to Rai, who stood and looked down at Frankenstein.

"Please do not look so disturbed. I merely do not wish to become drunk on my power as Roktis did, and by extension, his daughter. I saw their modified forms, and felt their aura, and was distressed that they had fallen so far."

"Of course, Master. If anyone could resist becoming drunk on power, it would be you. However, I respect your decision. Will you come back to me and tell me your final decision, regardless of what it is?" Frankenstein asked. Raizel ordered Frankenstein to stand and looked into his eyes.

"I will, Frankenstein. You need not be overly concerned about me."

"Ahaha… There's no way I could not be concerned, Master."

"Frankenstein… There is something that confuses me."

"What is it, Master?" Frankenstein asked, preparing himself either for the most astute observation imaginable, or one that demonstrated a complete lack of connection to the situation at hand.

"Shinwoo introduced me to something called iTunes. I heard music through small spheres that fit in my ears. I could hear the words, but I could not hear the thoughts of the singers."

Frankenstein merely sighed, and resigned himself to the fact that he would be writing another 'for dummies' outline for his master. Thus far, he had written at least ten such instructional manuals for Raizel, for gaming, for phones, for sports, etc.

But regardless, Raizel still was completely incompetent with gaming, had little skill with his phone, and as much as he even bothered with the sports his friends played, Frankenstein wondered why he even asked for such a manual.

"Hello, young man…" Came the voice of the groundskeeper, walking up to a young blonde man of maybe eighteen years at the oldest. The young man turned to the groundskeeper, looking at him with a polite, and subtly, yet disturbingly condescending and disgusted smile.

"Hello…" The young man said, bowing politely to the groundskeeper.

"Are you perhaps the guardian of this fortress?" He asked, stunning the groundskeeper with how antiquated his style of speech and the references he was making were.

"I… Would hardly consider myself a guardian, young man. Is there something I can help you with?"

"I am not certain. Perhaps you could point me to the location of the one known as Principal Lee? If not, I am certain that with time, I would find him on my own." The young man said coolly, seeming not to expect much of this elderly man.

"I… Hate to sound rude, but do you have an appointment with Principal Lee?" The groundskeeper asked, causing the young man to glare in annoyance and increasing disgust.

"I am certain that he would see me with or without an appointment, and a feeble and lowly worm such as yourself hardly has the right to ask me to qualify the reasons for my visit."

"Hey, Groundskeeper! How's it going!?" Tao asked, hurrying out with M-21, and Takeo quickly in tow. The young man looked at the three modified humans with mild surprise.

"M-21? Tao? Takeo? I was under the impression that all three of you had died. You two with the rest of DA-5 and you due to unknown circumstances."

"I-I apologize, but might I ask who you are?"

"Oh, Tao… My name is unimportant at the moment. But I really must see Principal Lee. If nobody will take me to see him, I may begin to lose my patience…" The young man said dangerously, releasing a powerful blast of aura that paralyzed the groundskeeper, seeming to make him freeze in time, and frightening all three of the special security members.

"There's no need to threaten us or the school, sir. Please just tell us your name. It will make it easier for us to announce your arrival to the principal, hahaha!" Tao said cheerfully, still terrified of the power that this man had just released.

"I suppose you make a good point, Tao… My name is Tesamu. I am the First Elder of The Union."

A/N: I apologize for the shortness of the first chapter. The chapter's purpose was really only to set up the major plotlines of the story, and I feel I did that in 4 pages. So, yeah. There are other plots that I intend to add. But this is most of them. I do hope that you enjoy the rest of the story.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Tao shivered as he knocked on the principal's door, and received permission to come in. Tao peeked in and saw Raskreia, Regis, Seira, Rai, and Rael all sitting around the office with Frankenstein, who looked up critically at Tao, telling him wordlessly to say what he needed to say and leave.

"Hello, Boss… Hahaha…" He said nervously. "Y-you have a visitor. He assured us that you were well acquainted with him."

"Very well. Tell him to come in."

"Hello, Professor. It has been a very long time. Over 820 years, in fact. Good morning, Noblesse-nim… Lord… It is an honor to make your acquaintances." Tesamu said deferentially, showing great poise. He bowed reverently to the Lord and Rai, both of whom looked at him levelly, betraying no particular sentiment.

"T-Tesamu…" Frankenstein asked, falling back in to his seat, breathless now upon seeing his former student standing before him like this. None of the people in the room, save Rai had ever seen Frankenstein so rattled by anything. But now, he looked ready to faint, almost.

"I came to return your research to you. I never turned it over to the Union, regardless of the fact that it would have skyrocketed our power far sooner than we have managed already. I also brought you two other diaries that I believe you must have misplaced. They both ended up in the Union's hands, one of them in the hands of someone I believe you are at least passingly acquainted with."

"Crombel." Frankenstein muttered, taking the two diaries and looking through them briefly to see which ones they were. He had lost them over 300 years ago. He never expected to get them back.

"Indeed. The rest of the data that you gave to me about 820 years ago has been stored on this flash drive. It was always yours."

"Indeed, it was. But you didn't come here just to give me this, did you? What is your purpose in coming here?" Frankenstein demanded. Tesamu laughed and took a deep breath, seeming legitimately happy to see Frankenstein again.

"I have modified myself rather extensively so that I could see you again, Professor. Are you not happy to see me?" Tesamu asked, looking terribly vulnerable in that moment.

"Of course, I am. I have something to give to you as well, 1st Elder-nim…" Frankenstein said, standing and walking over to Tesamu, who backed away slightly, scared now that he knew Frankenstein knew that he was an Elder in the Union.

"No need to be frightened, Tesamu. I merely wish to give you back your necklace. You said that it belonged to your mother, did you not?" Frankenstein asked. Tesamu nodded numbly, taking the necklace and putting it around his neck.

"Thank you, Professor. I was afraid that I would never get it back. It was my most valuable possession. You knew how valuable it was to me. I'm really grateful that you cared enough to hold onto it."

"You've grown up quite a bit since we last met, Tesamu. But you and the Union have put my Master in great danger, and I cannot abide that. I don't know why you showed your face to me here. I am glad to see that you are doing well. But if I must, I will kill you to protect my Master."

"The Noblesse is your new Master. You must have made a contract with him. I can taste the bond between you. One of my pet projects was to endow myself with Synesthesia. Auras register as smells to me as well as being visible to the eye. I never realized how very dark and cold your aura was, Professor. It's no wonder the humans were so terrified of you."

"Thank you. I'm glad you're doing so well. When did you become an Elder?" Frankenstein asked. Tesamu smiled and sat down, not bothering to wait for an invitation. Seira stood and made some tea for Tesamu, who smiled politely at her.

"Thank you, Seira Loyard-nim. It is an honor to be served tea by such a lovely young lady. I can understand why Yuri was so taken with you."

Seira bowed in thanks and sat back down, never once showing any emotion. Tesamu took his tea and sipped it slowly.

"This is excellent tea, Professor. Your skill shines through in all that you do. Are you sure that you won't come back to The Union? That was my initial purpose for coming to see you.

"You could easily become an Elder in no time. Your brilliance in human modification, and your raw experience in battle against opponents much stronger than you would make you an irreplaceable part of the Union."

"I am flattered by your praise, Tesamu. But I will not join the Union. I never wanted to hurt people. My experiments were all performed either on myself, or Werewolves and Nobles. Unlike the Union, which takes people at will, and experiments on them against their will, and turns them into monsters, I never did any such thing. And I never will."

"Please don't say that right off the bat. I came here of my own volition. I'm the top Elder of the Union. No other Elder is above me in rank. I will give you a few days to consider. Remember that you have killed numerous Elders, and that is a crime punishable by death. We will send someone that will be able to kill you.

"We have the greatest scientists in the world. Unfortunately, Professor, all of them pale in comparison to your brilliance. You could bring The Union to heights we previously believed impossible even for us. Are you really satisfied with a mediocre job as a high school principal, and as a butler to some…"

"Choose your next words with great care, Tesamu. I do have a fondness for you, but my master is my life. I have dedicated almost a thousand years to serving him because I love and respect him for his selflessness and bravery. The Union, on the other hand uses their power to subjugate and harm humans if they don't acquiesce to its demands.

"Is that really what you wanted? You told me as a youth that you desired the ability to help people, to cure sicknesses, to protect humanity. Your mother's death, you said was a tragedy that could have been avoided. Is taking the world by force really what you foresaw in your future?"

"Perhaps it was not exactly as I foresaw. However, I truly believe that by subjugating the world, the Union can bring about peace of a sort. It would not be the peace that I wanted 820 years ago. But it would be just as good, because The Union has the ability to enforce that peace.

With all the governments of the world completely under the control of The Union, we could end all wars over territorial disputes, religious differences, political differences.

"Such things wouldn't exist anymore. The Union could end all such fighting." Tesamu said quietly. Frankenstein looked at the four Nobles, and they took the hint to exit the room.

"I will never join the Union again. If you remember, the research on the Dark Spear was my pet project. It was my attempt to simulate the power of the Nobles' Soul Weapons. It was not completely successful.

"Its power was not stable like that of a Noble Soul Weapon. I suspect that the anguish and agony in which the humans died caused the souls to be vengeful. And due to the fact that they were not willing participants, they attempted to overcome my own will and destroy me.

"Ironically, their vengeful nature, and the fact that millions of souls are in the Dark Spear, my own strength of will increased drastically. It is odd that my own power increased as a result of the instability of my ability. On a different note, I have most of the information that is contained in that thumb drive. However, I would like to know if you ever used any of it on yourself."

"I have, Professor. I endowed myself with Biomass Manipulation, as you have called it. I was forced to infect myself with an incredibly potent virus first. Is that the way it still works?"

"It is. I cannot disseminate anything more specific, though.

"Thank you for the data back, though. It really only filled 8 terabytes? You didn't find all the data, then. Don't worry, though. In the past, as well as now, I always make backups of all my data, and when computer technology came about, I created computers that could hold all of my data. About 300 petabytes is contained within my current database."

"300 petabytes? That's a lot of data. Would you mind terribly, Professor if we had this conversation alone?" Tesamu asked, looking levelly at Rai and Raskreia. Seira and Regis bowed politely to Frankenstein, who seemed to agree that at least they should leave, and walked out silently.

"There is nothing that you can tell me that my master shouldn't hear, though, and I have no control over the Lord. Her will is sacrosanct amongst Nobles, and even my Master heeds her will. I cannot give her orders." Frankenstein said quietly. Raizel and Raskreia, though stood, bowed and exited. Raizel knew that Frankenstein would inform him of the situation later when it was more convenient.

So Rai and Raskreia left, leaving Frankenstein and Tesamu alone briefly.

"Please, Tesamu. Have a seat. My tea doesn't have quite the woman's touch that Miss Seira's has. But I'm still proud enough of it to serve it to my master."

"Thank you, Professor." Tesamu said quietly, sitting down elegantly, and taking the tea, savoring the rich, vibrant scent of it, blowing on it gently and taking the first sip. Frankenstein was right. It was incredible tea… The kind that you might serve to foreign dignitaries or royalty if they were visiting. His tea could fetch a high price in a tea shop. It was just that good.

"Professor, I hate to seem… Indelicate, but… Do you perhaps grow this tea yourself. I don't recognize the flavor from any of the many flavors of tea I have sampled. As you might be aware, I'm over 820 years old, and have sampled tea in almost every country in the world from Angola to Zaire.

"Each country has its own style of tea, and its own way of preparing it. And I have certainly tasted Korean tea, both North and South. But never have I had quite this… flavor. I cannot quite place it."

"I appreciate your critique. It is my own blend. I mixed in trace amounts of chocolate, some mint leaves, mainly New Moon Drop tea leaves for a slightly bitter flavor and a small amount of cinnamon. It is… Not Master's favorite. But most of my guests enjoy it."

"Impressive. The blend of flavors is perfect. No one flavor overpowers any of the others. You truly are one of the greatest minds in the world. To think that the Union missed out on your talents. I came myself to attempt to entice you to join the Union once more.

"We have been forced to employ backup Elders. Since you and your associates have annihilated over 60% of the Union's Elders, we have been forced to call in backup Elders.

"While this is not an ideal situation, as unnecessary infighting between the mandatory fill-ins and the established Elders who frankly don't respect the opinions of the fill-ins has caused productivity to take a dive, it is all we can do for the moment.

"If you were to fill in one of the Elder roles, your real world experience would bring much needed stability to the Union, and I'm certain that we could progress back on the path we have been taking to this point.

"Do you understand, Professor. The other Elders respect my opinion. If I were to invite you to be an Elder, there would be no dissenters. You could become once more one of the most powerful men in the world."

"I have already given you my answer, Tesamu. My answer is no. I do not desire that kind of power. So, while I appreciate your coming down to see me after so many years, I am actually deeply saddened that you have fallen so far from your original goals. You wanted to help people. The Union only desires domination. How does that help anyone?" Frankenstein asked.

"I… Am sorry that you feel so strongly about the Union's villainy. But we do work subtly when we can. If we can make it so that nobody knows that we are controlling things from behind the scenes, we would be happy to. And perhaps if someone like you and maybe your master and the Lord joined, we could take more benevolent actions.

"I agree that it is shameful that we are forced to use such tactics to control people. And I would like it if the world wanted our help. But today's world values freedom and individuality more than it values peace and universal cooperation. The Union is working on colonizing the Moon and Mars. Can normal people say that for themselves?

"Our ability to do that is due to the fact that we have worked toward that singular goal of technological superiority for centuries. Our ability to innovate goes beyond anything the world at large can. If the Union marched in and took over even a single city, the world would see in short order that our power is beyond anything most people could even dream of.

"That said, I believe that your ability to innovate may be even greater than our own. You have shown us the ability to completely reinvent what the Union considered a failed experiment in M-21, you have improved two successful experiments and then helped them surpass even those expectations. Doctor Crombell is fascinated by your ability to bring about success where only failure existed before."

"I am flattered by that. But I cannot take full credit for their improvements. I won't expound upon their improvements. But my Master has a great deal to do with much of them."

"You give that technologically backwards man far too much credit. He may have catalyzed the initial improvement with his power as the Noblesse. But without you, he, and by extension your other stooges would be nowhere."

Suddenly, Frankenstein turned ice cold. His eyes began to glow, and his Dark Spear power began to leak from his body.

"It really has been a pleasure to see you again, Tesamu. You should really leave while you can. You may have a great power in your Biomass Manipulation. But I cannot guarantee your safety if you stay.

"Insult my master again, and I may forget to warn you in advance." Frankenstein snarled. Tesamu smiled serenely, and looked at Frankenstein, showing no malice or anger. He had nothing but respect for the man who had taken him in, knowing that he worked for the Union, and still wasn't angry at him for betraying him in the end.

However, he was somewhat distressed that Frankenstein was so closed off to the possibilities of working for the Union. He didn't doubt that the Noblesse had a great deal to do with his unwillingness to cooperate, and the speed at which he took offense to something that Tesamu had said. However, Tesamu had insulted Frankenstein's master. That was clearly the wrong route to take.

With that in mind, Tesamu bowed politely to Frankenstein and apologized for misspeaking as he did. He then thanked Frankenstein for taking time out of his schedule to meet with him, and left, and was escorted out of Yae Ran by M-21, who looked at him suspiciously.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Raizel is slightly out of character in this fic. First of all, he's becoming involved with Raskreia, and second, he's accepting human modification. But I feel that his openness to change even amongst the Nobles would indicate that he wouldn't be completely unwilling to accept such a thing.

Chapter Three

"M-21… How would you like to know your name, as well as the names of all your former comrades? I have all the information right here. And I'm more than willing to give it all to you, right now. I just ask that you put in a good word for me with my Professor. I ask nothing else from you.

"That said, you would make a great high level agent for the Union. As a high level agent, you would have no obligation to undergo further experiments, nor would you be treated as badly as you were before. You would have access to information unavailable to low level agents.

"Your power in effectively being a full Werewolf would serve you well, as you would have access to other Werewolves who could give you the necessary training to fully avail yourself of your full capabilities.

"You could even find out whose heart was transplanted into you. It was… A preliminary experiment, and with how well you took the transplant, we are certain that you were meant to be a Werewolf from birth."

"Thank you. I will speak on your behalf to the Boss. However, if he even rejected your offer as his former student, I can't imagine that he would listen to me. Why should he? What do I really mean to a man as powerful as Frankenstein?"

"I disagree with you. But I would appreciate if you would simply speak on my behalf. Here is the data. I thank you for your cooperation." Tesamu said quietly, bowing to M-21 and leaving without a word. M-21 looked suspiciously at the flash drive.

He didn't trust Tesamu for a minute. From the great respect that he showed Frankenstein, M-21 was fairly sure that Tesamu wouldn't want to hurt him. But hacking his computers might be a different story.

"Hey, Rai! You wanna go to the PC Bang with us today!" Shinwoo called loudly. Rai looked at his red haired friend serenely. The truth was that he was tired of being beaten, and so badly. He never said no to them, though. He always went along and played the games, got killed over and over again, and then went home silently while they all gloated and read more about how to play games.

Frankenstein had probably written three dozen pamphlets on gaming for him. But none of them helped.

"No, Shinwoo!" Yuna said, shaking her finger. "He's probably hoping to spend time with Raskreia! Let them be…"

"Oh! Of course! Have fun on your date, Rai!" Shinwoo said, even more loudly if possible, and ran off with the others. This time, Regis and Seira went with them.

"Raizel…" Raskreia said quietly as they walked back to Frankenstein's house. Raizel turned to Raskreia, his usual serene gaze still on his face. Raskreia admired his ability to remain so calm. He didn't say a word in response, but she knew from the look on his face that she had his undivided attention.

"Why do those children think we are dating? They constantly imply that we are romantically involved. Have you said anything to that effect?" Raskreia asked, seeming slightly doubtful. Raizel never really talked, much less gossiped. Why would he say something that was so blatantly untrue? She did like Raizel, and she understood him better now than she ever had before.

She had seen his life, and knew why he loved it so much. Even with those loudmouthed children and their incessant yelling, inelegant behavior and gossiping amongst themselves, they were a distinct change from his solitary and lonely life in Lukedonia. He lived with Frankenstein, and spent his time with friends that he never had before.

In the past, he had admirers and followers. He had people who had feelings that bordered on worship of him, and he had the Lord, who was always trying cockamamie schemes to get Raizel to come out of his shell, but wasn't really Raizel's 'friend'.

Raskreia felt a strange sensation in her chest when she was with Raizel that she couldn't quite place. She wasn't sure she liked the fluttering feeling that she got when she was around Raizel, when she looked into his serene and placid crimson eyes, when she knew he was listening to every word she said with an attention that would have escaped even the most attentive of humans.

It wasn't, she knew that he loved her, but because he was a very attentive person in general. He rarely spoke anyway, so what was the harm in listening to what others had to say?

"I have not." Raizel said simply. Shortly, though, he elaborated.

"The children are more perceptive than many give them credit for. They tend sometimes to go in the wrong direction with their strangely astute perceptions. But we should not dismiss them as groundless."

Hearing this, Raskreia blushed deeply. Had Raizel just told her that the children were right in thinking that they loved each other? Maybe Frankenstein would have more insight into the matter.

"Headmaster…" Raskreia said in her usual stern tone. Frankenstein looked at the young Lord and smiled politely.

"Yes? How may I help you?" He asked in his usual cheerful tone that Raskreia was never certain if he was being facetious.

"May I speak with you alone for a moment?" Raskreia asked. Frankenstein looked more serious suddenly.

"There is nothing you can say to me that my Master should not know."

"I am aware of your loyalty to Raizel. But this is personal for me. I would rather he not know just yet."

"I understand. We can speak in the laboratory. It is soundproofed for privacy." Frankenstein replied. Raskreia nodded.

"I did not realize that you were capable of using the Mergas Family powers as well, Frankenstein. Have you experimented on a Mergas family member in the past?"

"It is quite possible, Lord. But there is technology that allows us to get the same effect. The Mergas Family powers that allow them to defend are simulated by technology today."

"I see. You are certain that we cannot be heard outside?" Raskreia confirmed. Frankenstein nodded with a certainty that set Raskreia's concerns at ease.

"I am… Concerned. You have lived among the humans for a long time. Of late, I have been feeling an alternating tightness and fluttering feeling in my chest."

"Have you had any dizziness, shortness of breath, racing thoughts, lack of coordination or stability on your feet, dry mouth, or an upset stomach?" Frankenstein asked, locating a clipboard with a medical page on it. Raskreia nodded.

"I do feel dizzy occasionally, though my shortness of breath tends to go away after certain conditions are met."

"I think the picture is coming into focus. But please, for the sake of certainty, tell me what those conditions are."

"W-well… It is embarrassing, but when I am with the Noblesse, or when I think about him, I feel very strange. It is almost like I am ill, but I can discern no actual physical malady.

"I see… Well, you are sick… And from what you've said you're really quite sick. It isn't something that I can cure, though."

"So, I really am ill? Is it just like a cold for humans? Or is something seriously wrong with me?" Raskreia asked, looking uncommonly vulnerable and scared. Frankenstein laughed and shook his head.

"No, no, Lord. There's nothing wrong with you. It is something that all young people experience. You've fallen in love.

"There's nothing you can do about it. But that doesn't mean that you can't enjoy it."

Raizel had had the same conversation with Frankenstein. He had no intention of revealing his master's secrets. He would take it to his grave if need be. However, he felt certain that eventually one of them would confess to the other.

The Noblesse and the Lord. An odd, but strangely appropriate couple. Both were supremely powerful, and unconditionally respected and revered by the Nobles.

"H-has Raizel said anything about his opinion of me?" Raskreia asked, blushing again. Frankenstein smirked.

"You should know better than most that Master doesn't say much of anything at all." Frankenstein said with an enigmatic grin. Raskreia sighed, nodding.

"You are right, of course. I see why my father respected you so much… You really are the perfect servant for the Noblesse. I will not ask you to reveal his secrets."

"I appreciate that. I hate to have to refuse the requests of the Lord. But I'm honor bound to keep Master's secrets."

"I understand completely. Now, tell me. What did you wish to speak to Raizel about that meant that I couldn't be there. Usually, the Nobles, even the Noblesse have no secrets from the Lord. I believe that you have the Noblesse's best interests at heart. But I also am not entirely certain I trust you, Frankenstein."

"Lord, Lord… You make me out to be some deviant… I would never do anything to put my Master in danger." Frankenstein said with a nervous laugh. At that very moment, almost as if Raizel detected the disagreement, he walked in and sat down, taking a sip of his tea, slowly savoring the taste.

"Frankenstein offered to modify me in order to strengthen my life force, and prevent further loss of life force." Raizel said. Frankenstein believes that I am…" Suddenly, Raizel looked confused. Frankenstein immediately made mental contact with Raizel.

 _Master. I truly believe that you would make an excellent candidate for Bioenergy Manipulation. Your physical and mental abilities both exceed what would be necessary. You may be weakened due to your low life force. But you're still far above average for a Bioenergy Manipulation candidate. And your ability to overpower the will of even Nobles and Werewolves will serve you well._

 _Furthermore, I believe that you will be able to resist becoming drunk on the immense power that it will bring._

 _"I see."_

"I trust you, Frankenstein. How long will it take to imbue me with this power?" Raizel asked, causing Raskreia to start.

"Raizel! How could you!?" She demanded. Raizel looked at her serenely, calming her almost immediately.

"The previous Lord encouraged change even amongst the Nobles. I may not be him, but I have no trouble believing that he would have encouraged my decision. Besides, it will allow me to live longer, and I am not done enjoying this world yet.

"There is much I still need to do, and I insist on enjoying all of it. Frankenstein, I wish to be left alone for a moment. Not you, Lord. Please stay. I wish to speak with you alone." Raizel said quietly, taking Raskreia's hand in his.

His hand was surprisingly warm. Even though he always seemed cool, and seemed to stay static like earth while life flowed over him like water… She would have to write down that simile. It was quite beautiful…

"Yes, my Lord…" Frankenstein said formally, bowing politely to his master and leaving the lab. Raizel looked at Raskreia, and took both of her hands in his, staring into her ruby red eyes.

"Raskr… Lord…" Raizel said, bowing to her before continuing. Raskreia sighed.

"Please, just call me Raskreia, or even Ras like those remarkably uncultured humans do."

"Of course, Raskreia… I was not familiar until recently with the concept of 'dating'. Frankenstein explained to me that a date was an occasion that two people shared.

"Whether male and female, male and male or female and female, the date was generally romantic in nature, and it was for the purposes of two people who enjoyed each other's company spending an afternoon together."

"I was informed in the same manner of the nature of a 'date'. Please get to the point." Raskreia said, not beating around the bush.

"I wish to take you on a date, Raskreia." Rai said. He hadn't spoken as much as he had this one night in his entire life.

He wasn't sure that it was good that he was talking so much. His friends spoke more than he did, but still, he worried that people would think he spoke too much. He could easily have read their minds. But that would have been disrespectful of their privacy.

"I-I would be honored, Noblesse…" Raskreia said, blushing slightly. Raizel shook his head.

"I am not asking in my capacity as the Noblesse, nor do I wish you to respond in your capacity as the Lord. I, Cadis Etrama DiRaizel am asking you, Erga Kenesis DiRaskreia if you wish to go on a date with me. There is nothing official about it."

"Some would say that the two are inseparable. You as Raizel and you as the Noblesse are one and the same, and cannot be removed from each other."

"I would only ask you to see me as a person, and not as the Noblesse."

"Of course…" Raskreia said, starting to bow, but stopping and merely nodding instead.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

"Hey, Rai! RAI!" Came Shinwoo's voice as loudly as ever. Rai didn't flinch. He never did, though he was always slightly startled by the sheer volume of Shinwoo's and his friends' voices. Raizel looked at Raskreia, who nodded, and strode ahead of him, in through the gates and directly to class.

"Hey, Rai! Sorry to interrupt your time with your girlfriend! We've got a big weekend planned! We're gonna all hang out at Ikhan's place! He's got a brand new game, and we're all gonna play it! Suyi is leaving on Sunday for another modeling gig, and we wanted to send her off! You in!?"

"I cannot…" Raizel said simply, reverting to his laconic manner of speech. The children all looked at him, shocked. He had never turned them down. Even when he was sick, he never did. But today, he said it with such finality.

"What's up, Rai? Wait…" Suyi said with a smile. "You must have a date with Raskreia… Right?" Raizel didn't answer her when she asked that. But they all got the impression that he was nodding internally. They couldn't explain the feeling. But they knew he was talking to them without saying a word.

Almost immediately, he walked ahead of them, not saying another word, leaving them confused as to what exactly just happened. They looked at each other, then hurried after him to get in before Pedro came out and scolded them. They made it in mere seconds before the bell, marking a first for Shinwoo, who seemed to deliberately taunt Pedro with his tardiness.

"Hello, Master, Lord. Please, come in… Did something happen? You usually get here first thing." Frankenstein said politely. Raizel shook his head, not elaborating. Frankenstein sensed that Raizel was struggling with something at the moment, and would let him come out with it when he was ready.

Perhaps he would say something when the others went back to class. Regis spoke as soon as he was sure that Frankenstein was done.

"The human, Shinwoo has invited Seira and myself to a gaming session this weekend to send off their friend, Im Suyi 'with a bang', as they say, though they assure me that there will be no fireworks… In case such things would frighten me.

"I am not certain how they intend to send her off with a bang without pyrotechnics, but I will be there." Regis said placidly. He was still getting used to his place as the new clan leader of the Landeger Clan, and was having some trouble adjusting. He was still speaking at length with his grandfather, Gejutel about his new duties.

Gejutel had said that his duties were mostly as a figurehead until he reached adulthood and had his coming of age ceremony. However, he was still expected to act the part of a clan leader.

"Actually, Regis… 'Send someone off with a bang' just means to make a big deal out of it. It is common in human society to have a celebration before a friend leaves.

"It may seem uncultured to do so. But humans, understanding if only unconsciously that their lives are short and can end at any time, want to celebrate every moment they have together. That is part of why they tend to make such a big deal out of things that Nobles perhaps would not."

"I see… I am still going. I am honor bound, having been invited to appear at this party."

"I will go as well. Shinwoo says he wishes to speak to me personally. I am not certain of his intentions. But I trust him, regardless. He has never shown me that he is not deserving of my trust."

"I would advise you not to take Rael to the party, in that case." Frankenstein said bluntly. Seira and Regis both looked at him, perplexed.

"Why, Headmaster?" They both asked together. Frankenstein snickered at this.

"If I told you, it would ruin the surprise. Just trust that Rael would not be the best person to have in such a situation."

"I understand. I am not certain that Rael even knows. He isn't supposed to come back from Lukedonia until tomorrow. Shinwoo asked me to invite him to the party. But… If I were to… Forget, it would not be so bad." Seira said in her typical placid and stoic tone.

"Enjoy the party. You three should get back to class." Frankenstein said politely. Raskreia stood while Seira and Regis politely waited a moment before standing and following Raskreia out of the room. Soon, Frankenstein and Raizel were alone.

"You seem to have something heavy on your mind, Master. I would be more than happy to assist you in any way I can."

"I have a date with the Lord on Saturday. I… Lack the knowledge of the traditions of such a mating ritual."

"Ahaha! I see… It's not an issue, Master. The date is on Saturday? I will write up a guide for you, of course."

"Thank you, Frankenstein. Ah… I gather from television shows that Shinwoo has shown me that I am supposed to kiss my partner on the date."

"I will… Add a section on kissing for you, Master…" Frankenstein said uncertainly. He would have to make this guide more inclusive and perfect than any he had done before. It would have to take his master through every possibility of the date, including hand holding, kissing, small talk, compliments, cuddling, and even the possibility of sex.

Frankenstein felt oddly like a father, watching his son going on his first date, and feeling a strange mixture of pride, loss and pain. He would be losing the Master he always knew, but helping his Master come out of his shell further.

Raizel had always been such an extreme recluse, coming out of his mansion maybe once every ten years at most. The Japanese had a word for what Rai was. Hikikomori.

"Master…" Frankenstein said uncertainly. Raizel looked at him levelly, not betraying a hint of emotion.

"I-I'm proud of you, Master…" Frankenstein said, feeling tears stinging his eyes. He had never had this strange mixture of emotions before. Fear, pride, and he was flattered that his Master trusted him in such a personal matter.

Raizel nodded at this, never changing his silent nature, and took his tea, savoring the smell and taking a smooth, silent sip of it.

"Frankenstein… If you can promise me two things, I will accept the modification." Raizel said. Frankenstein sat up straighter.

"Of course, Master. I would be honored."

"I need you to promise me that the modifications will not be grossly obvious. I have seen the modified humans' ability to transform, the machines that are attached to their bodies. I presume this is not that kind of modification."

"I will… Give you a comprehensive but easy to follow guide on Bioenergy Manipulation. It can include transformation… If you want it to. But in simple terms, it essentially allows you to do almost anything. What is your second demand?"

"I want you to promise to stop me if I become drunk on the power that I will inevitably achieve with this modification."

"I-I promise, Master…" Frankenstein said, the breath driven from his lungs at this heavy responsibility. He didn't want to have to be responsible for killing his master.

"Hey, Seira… Regis… Rael couldn't join us tonight?" Shinwoo asked cheerfully, blushing slightly when he spoke to Seira. Seira shook her head elegantly.

"Rael Kertia is tied up in his home country." Regis said flatly.

"Are you positive that there will not be pyrotechnics?" Regis asked. Shinwoo and Ikhan grinned.

"Of course not. We don't want to scare ya', Regis."

"I am _not_ scared of them! I am merely confused by the phrase 'send off with a bang' considering that there are no fireworks."

"Oh… Okay. We're just throwing a party. Come on in, you two. We're playing Cards Against Humanity. You wanna join us?" Yuna asked cheerfully. Seira merely nodded once, but Regis raised an eyebrow at this suggestion, taking his phone out of his pocket.

He had been given an iPhone for his birthday by Frankenstein. He clicked on the internet and looked up Cards Against Humanity.

"We will engage in this game with you. Does it involve a punishment game if you lose?" Regis asked, always irritatedly impressed by their ability to attach strangely creative penalties to any game.

"There's no losing. Come on in. We're burning moonlight." Shinwoo said, grabbing Regis's hand and pulling him inside. Seira bowed and followed the rest in, removing her shoes on the precipice. Soon, they were all seated in a circle, their cards dealt. Regis looked at his cards. None of them made sense. What were kegels? What was queefing? What on earth did "I am Batman" mean.

Seira seemed to be having little more luck deciphering her cards. She seemed helplessly confused. She could see that the other kids were all laughing about something. Was this a game of comedy? Were they supposed to try to make each other laugh?

Shinwoo went first and took out a black card and put it down. Yuna, Suyi, and Ikhan all put white cards face down next to it. Seira and Regis looked quizzically at the three of them.

"What is the objective of this game? Do the words equal numbers?"

"No. Let's see… One person puts the black card down. This one says "Batman's guilty pleasure is 'blank'. Now, you have to put down one of your white cards as a completion to the sentence."

"But who is Batman?" Regis asked. The four human children stared at Regis in disbelief.

"B-Batman is the greatest superhero ever. He was just a normal human at first, but he trained extensively in ninjutsu and gained superpowers through his training."

"I see. I have chosen." Regis said, putting his card face down. Seira nodded, and put a card facedown. Shinwoo turned the cards over.

"Batman's guilty pleasure is… Praying the gay away." Shinwoo said. He then put the next card down. "Michelle Obama's arms…"

Pausing for dramatic effect, he looked around as the group laughed. "Stephen Hawking talking dirty…"

The group cracked up at this one, including Shinwoo.

"Anal beads… I am Batman…" Shinwoo said the last one in Batman's gravelly voice as portrayed by Christian Bale.

The group cracked up at this one as well.

"And, the winner is… Stephen Hawking talking dirty!" The group laughed and cheered, and Shinwoo handed the card to Seira, who had actually just put the card down at random, so she was surprised that she had won. Who was Stephen Hawking, anyway?

"Now, you're up, Seira. Take the black card and put it down." Shinwoo said, showing Seira the box. Seira nodded placidly and took out a single black card, putting it face up on the floor.

"During sex, I like to think about… Line." Seira said, not betraying a hint of emotion, although she blushed slightly, glancing at Shinwoo.

Shinwoo, as usual, didn't notice anything. He thought for a moment, and put down a card. When the entire group had put down a card, and Regis looked like he was ready to have a conniption, Seira picked up the cards.

"I like to think about… The milkman. I like to think about… Inserting a Mason jar into my anus. I like to think about my dad's dumb… Fucking face…" Seira continued, looking distinctly disturbed by these answers.

"I-I like to think about… The KKK… I like to think about… Being replaced by a robot… I'm afraid I still don't comprehend the benefits of playing such a game."

"It's just fun. We can play something else if you're not enjoying it, Seira." Shinwoo said cheerfully. Seira shook her head, and the game went on for another half hour, neither Seira nor Regis having any idea what exactly they were doing.

The game eventually ended, though, and the kids got up and started getting chips and dip out, and digging in. Regis still couldn't believe, even after almost a year how inelegant and vulgar the children were. Regis looked at Seira for a moment. She seemed to be anticipating something that he wasn't in on.

"Is something wrong, Seira?" Regis asked. Seira shook her head.

"I am fine. These festivities are just unfamiliar to me." Seira replied. Regis nodded in agreement, and went into the kitchen, looking at the bowl of chips suspiciously.

"What are these?" Regis asked. Ikhan seemed surprised by this question.

"They're chips, Regis. You pick some up with your fingers and put them in the dip and eat them. You've never heard of potato chips?"

"You mean to say that it is a communal bowl that everyone sticks their hands in? That's filthy!" Regis protested.

"Well, if Shinwoo has his way, it won't be communal for long." Ikhan laughed, the others joining in, except for Regis and Seira, who didn't find it terribly funny.

"Oh, lighten up, Regis! You're so stiff! It's a party. No need to take things so seriously…" Shinwoo said, clapping Regis on the back, causing the small white haired boy to gasp, and scowl at Shinwoo, who apologized and looked away. Regis didn't say anything. It would be terribly inelegant to continue after Shinwoo had already apologized.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

"So, where are we going tonight, Raizel… Do you know the way to our destination?"

Rai shook his head, but showed Raskreia his phone, which had GPS on it, and it was giving them instructions on how to get to their destination.

After maybe ten minutes of walking, they arrived at the restaurant they were going to. Frankenstein had given Rai plenty of money for the date. Raizel had never really handled money in any significant capacity before.

Frankenstein had always given him the right amount of money for the specific occasion, and whatever change Rai was owed, he was given by the clerk. It was never a problem. Now, however, he had about 300,000 Won, and was unsure of what to do with it exactly.

Frankenstein had explained about tipping the waiter, and how he should calculate the tip at about 15% of the total tab. He had gone over how to use a calculator quite extensively, over and over until Rai could do it on his own. He hadn't bothered to get Tao to do it. Tao would go into theoretical physics and make his poor master's head spin.

"You look beautiful tonight, Raskreia." Raizel said, taken by the sight of Raskreia in a long black silk dress. She had done up her hair beautifully as well in a twist updo that he suspected she had some help with from Frankenstein or a professional stylist.

Raskreia blushed slightly and thanked him for the compliment. Raizel said nothing but took her hand in his, their fingers lacing as Frankenstein had instructed. He had tried to ask M-21 and Takeo, but neither of them had any idea of how to act on a date, and Tao would have been worse than useless. He would likely have actively hindered Rai's attempt to show Raskreia a good time on their date.

Not intentionally, of course. But Tao's sense of humor had a strange way of making things worse rather than better. Raskreia turned a deeper shade of pink as Rai took her hand. Despite his personality, his hand was very warm and gentle.

 _Do not try to kiss her until the third date, unless she kisses you first. Hold her hand. Pull her seat out for her. Compliment her dress. It is the man's job to pay for the date. Hold doors for her. If other men try to come on to her, that is, flirt with her, defend her honor without violence if possible… Most men will retreat if you stand up to their attempts to hit on her._

 _Kissing her hand is considered outdated, but there is an old fashioned charm to it._

There was a lot that Frankenstein had mentioned in the guide to dating for him. He had memorized it all after reading through it twice, and now could recite it all from memory, like most of the guides Frankenstein had given him.

Frankenstein had said that if the woman was clearly with a man, it was unlikely that other men would come up and try to flirt with her, but that it did occasionally happen with men who had an overinflated self-image.

 _"Such men clearly weren't able to see how incredible Master is, and likely need only a gentle reminder that they are out of their league."_

That was what Frankenstein said. Honestly, Raizel was sure that he wouldn't even have to say anything. That Raskreia could easily take care of any issue herself.

He had expressed as much to Frankenstein. But Frankenstein had told him that it was the principle, that the man was supposed to stand up for his woman.

Finally, they made it to the restaurant, and told the maître d' their reservation, and were seated immediately. Frankenstein had clearly set things up for them. Rai walked ahead of Raskreia and pulled her seat out for her, bowing politely as she sat down, and then sat down himself. The waiter couldn't help but think how old fashioned and formal the young man was.

"Can I get you anything to drink?"

"Do you have a bottle of red wine?" Raskreia asked. She had been informed by Takeo that wine was a common drink to have on dates.

"Um… Miss… Do you… Have an ID on you? I-it's just… I can't serve alcohol to anyone under twenty years old."

Raskreia looked at him levelly, her eyes narrowed, though not in anger. She just didn't understand his objection. She was clearly over 20 years of age.

"We will just have cranberry juice." Raizel said quietly. Raskreia looked at him, but said nothing, and nodded once. The waiter bowed, wrote down the order and went back to the kitchen.

 _"Raskreia… In appearance, we hardly look 18, let alone 20 to humans. It would be impossible to explain our true age, as no known human has ever lived past 130 years of age."_

 _Of course, Raizel. I was informed by Tao and Takeo that wine was a common drink on dates. I have only ever drunk wine made by Nobles. So I am not familiar with human wine._

 _"It is not necessarily wise to ask Tao about anything. I doubt he took into account the drinking age in Korea."_

 _I see. I will remember that next time._ Raskreia thought, projecting her thoughts to Raizel. Across the restaurant, another relatively young couple, maybe only in their 20s was looking at Raizel and Raskreia, noticing the odd looks on their faces.

"Those two are so beautiful, aren't they?" The woman asked. The man nodded.

"Yes. But… They're just… staring at each other. They aren't saying a word. Do you think they're just lost for words, sweetie?"

"It's possible. I've never seen anybody quite so perfect looking as they are. They look like dolls almost."

"Thanks, sweetie. Makes me feel great about my own self-image. I know, I know. They look like models." The man said, sarcastically at first, but then being completely serious. They were almost inhumanly beautiful, like those vampires you saw in horror stories, their alabaster skin gleaming in the moonlight, their eyes catching yours and making you want to supplicate yourself completely to them.

"Have you decided what you'd like?" The waiter asked, coming back to the table. Raizel and Raskreia looked up.

"We haven't opened our menus yet." Raskreia said in such a succinct manner that the waiter blanched, thinking she was angry with him.

He couldn't explain it. Usually he didn't worry too much about these things, but he really wanted nothing more than to make Raskreia happy. It wasn't that he was in love with her. He had a fiancée whom he loved very much. But something about her presence, quiet as it was made him want to bow to her and serve her.

If anything, the man induced that feeling even more. His presence, while completely silent was overwhelmingly elegant and powerful, like he was royalty. And the waiter didn't know it, but he wasn't far from the truth.

"I-I'll leave you to your menus then…" The young man said nervously, giving them their cranberry juice and beating a hasty retreat. Raizel knew what he wanted. But Frankenstein had told him that it was impolite to order before his date.

He had never encountered these issues before. He had always been such a recluse that it never mattered. Raskreia looked over the menu. She wasn't as familiar with Korean as Raizel was. But she had contacted the young waiter's mind and was passively examining the surface thoughts of other diners, so she had a good idea of what she was reading.

After a few minutes of perusing the menu, she set it down, and the waiter came back quickly. Raskreia looked up at him, and spoke in a voice that captivated the man, drove him breathless.

"Dwenjang Chigae, please." She said softly. The man nodded.

"And you, sir?"

"Ramen." At this, Raskreia looked at him in surprise. Why would he… No, of course he would get ramen. He always got ramen. They ate it every night at Frankenstein's house.

"Did you want the beef ramen, chicken ramen, pork ramen, lamb ramen?" The man asked. Raizel looked at him stoically, causing the breath to be further driven from his lungs.

"Lamb…" He hadn't had lamb ramen before. He would have to try it. Nobles didn't really eat very much. Maybe one meal a day. Their digestive systems were far more efficient, and they didn't require a lot of food.

"Of course. Your food will be out soon." The waiter said quietly, bowing and moving away quickly. Something about both of them was overwhelming. He could barely breathe when in their presence. He couldn't explain it either.

 _"People are staring at us, Raizel. Perhaps we should try talking out loud to avoid being so noticeable. I am somewhat used to being the center of attention. But given your… Reclusive past, I am not certain that you would want that kind of attention."_

 _"It is not an issue. Humans are wont to pay attention to anything out of the ordinary. I get this kind of attention every day at school. Everyone's eyes are always on me. Frankenstein and Regis say that it is likely my 'superior elegance'."_

 _"Hm hm… Yes… I can see that might be the case. Though, from what I have seen humans are also quite shallow. Perhaps it is merely your physical appearance that attracts them to you. I am not saying that you are not elegant. Only that humans often do not see that, only physical appearance."_

 _"It is possible."_ Rai said, returning to his typical reticent demeanor. Raskreia sighed.

 _"I do wish that you would talk more sometimes. From what I hear, people are supposed to have conversations on dates… Not largely one-sided talks."_

 _"I am not sure I would know what to say. What could I say that would interest the Lord?"_ Rai asked, his face retaining its impassive appearance, but a small blush appearing on his face. Raskreia blushed as well.

 _"Do I really seem that intimidating? I don't mean to be."_

 _"No. It is just… I am not terribly familiar with dating… Especially when my date is as beautiful as you are, Raskreia. Have you ever felt like you couldn't find the words you want to say?"_

 _"Raizel… I-I'm… I… Wait! You hardly have any words to say."_

 _"Good point. But that doesn't mean that it is any easier to talk right now. Ah… The food is here."_ Raizel thought. Soon, the waiter came up and put their meals on the table. Rai sat there and watched his ramen as it grew. Raskreia wasn't sure if Raizel's method of making the food grow really made the serving bigger.

In fact, when she had tried it, it seemed more like the noodles just became soggy. She kept doing it because Raizel insisted that it made the portion bigger. But it kept just making the ramen soggy. So eventually, she stopped eating it like that. She dug in faster, though she still ate in an elegant fashion befitting the Noble Lord.

As they ate their meal, they remained in silence, leaving people very surprised by their lack of conversation. In fact, they were speaking telepathically.

 _"How are you enjoying your Dwenjang Chigae?"_ Rai asked telepathically. Raskreia nodded stoically, and responded.

 _"And is the ramen up to your discriminating standards, Raizel?"_ Raskreia asked. Raizel nodded once to show that he did indeed approve. This ramen wasn't as good as Frankenstein's. But it lived up to the school's standards, at least, and that was good enough for him. He generally wasn't too picky when it came to ramen. He had even eaten instant ramen once.

It was unbelievably salty and had a strange aftertaste. But, Yuna and Suyi had made it personally. It would have been rude not to eat it. It wasn't bad. It was just not Frankenstein's ramen. So although he enjoyed spending the time with them, the ramen was… For lack of a nicer term, subpar.

Raskreia laughed, hearing this thought go through Rai's head.

 _"Raizel… I did not think that there could be any ramen that you didn't like."_

 _There is not. The ramen that the children make is simply prepackaged and sold in mass quantities. It was the ramen that I gave you after the incident in Lukedonia._

 _"I see. I'm impressed that humans have progressed so far in 820 years. Is there nothing that they cannot do?"_

 _I suspect they would have trouble speaking more quietly and slowing down._ Raizel said with a slight smile. Raskreia actually laughed at this comment. It was true, most ironically.

The children that were Raizel's friends were always very loud and in a huge hurry to get somewhere… Though Raskreia could never quite figure out why they were so rushed. If they had to hurry like that, why didn't they just leave earlier so they could walk, and just enjoy the scenery.

For that matter, even when the red haired child ran at full tilt, he was still late 3/4 of the time. He always gave the excuse that his alarm clock didn't wake him up.

"Raizel? What is an alarm clock?"

"Sorry? What do you mean?" Raizel asked in his usual near whisper that still seemed to carry all the gravity of his position.

"Well, The one called Han Shinwoo always gives the excuse that he is late because his alarm clock didn't wake him up. What is an alarm clock?"

"I asked Frankenstein the same thing. It is a small clock that you set for a specific time. When that time comes, it goes off, making an obnoxious ringing noise that is supposed to alert you to the event in question."

"I see. Then why does Han Shinwoo still never get to school on time?"

"I suspect that he enjoys angering his homeroom teacher." Rai said with an ironic laugh that sounded more like a simple 'heh'. Raskreia thought for a moment, then nodded.

"You mean the killing machine? It simply does not make sense that Han Shinwoo, regardless of his skill in combat, would want to anger that man, if he can so be called. I thought he was a modified human at first. Are you certain that he is not?"

"I am." Rai said simply. Finally, Rai and Raskreia set down their chopsticks and waited for the waiter to come back. After two or three minutes, the waiter returned and took their dishes, asking if they wanted any desert. Neither did, so Raizel paid for the dinner, and they left.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Back at Suyi's party, they had started to play Truth or Dare. Regis had looked up what it was, just like Cards Against Humanity, and found that it was a game in which a number of people sat in a circle, and went around saying Truth or Dare to each other.

If the individual said 'Truth', they had to answer a question honestly, whatever the question was. If they said 'Dare', they had to perform the activity of the Darer's choice, regardless of how ridiculous or humiliating it was.

"What is the benefit of this game? Does it increase group cohesiveness? Does it build trust or enhance teamwork?" Regis asked, terribly confused by the premise of the game. The others looked at him, save for Seira, who agreed that it was a strange premise for a game.

"I-it's just fun. You seem to be missing the point of these games. There's no ulterior motive or deep premise to it. It's just a game that you play with people you like and trust. Truth or Dare often has a sexual element to it. But it doesn't have to if you're uncomfortable with that.

"It can be played by anyone from age four to age thirty, really." Yuna said with a slightly helpless smile. Regis nodded once and sat down in the circle.

Seira seemed to be slightly uncertain about the game. A 'sexual element'? What exactly did that entail. Would she be forced to confess her feelings for Shinwoo in a public forum? Would she be forced to… What was it human children did with their dates? She didn't even know. She had seen human children joined at the lips, their tongues seeming to dart between their mouth and their loved one's mouth.

Was that what they were going to dare her to do? Was she expected to say 'Dare' first? Or should she say 'Truth'? Would saying 'Dare' make her seem to eager? Would saying 'Truth' make her seem too timid? Frankly, this game seemed fraught with potential danger of embarrassing herself.

And what would she dare the others to do? To what questions would she demand answers? She had one that she had always been curious about.

"Here! I'll start. Regis. Truth or Dare?" Ikhan asked. Regis blanched at being put on the spot like this.

"U-um… Um… T-Truth…"

"What is your worst subject in school?"

"Math. I cannot for the life of me understand all those bizarre mixtures of numbers!" Regis exclaimed irately. Math gave him a huge headache. He tried to use mind reading once to figure it out. But it just confused him even more.

"Okay. Interesting start. Seira… You're up."

"Han Shinwoo…" Seira said uncertainly. "Truth or Dare."

"Umm…" Shinwoo said, unable to hide the crimson blush on his cheeks. Did she have a really embarrassing plan for a dare?

"Truth…"

"Why are you always late to school specifically on days when Mr. Park is guarding the gate?"

"Well… Because the furious look on his face is just hilarious!" Shinwoo said, cracking up just thinking about it. Regis spoke to Seira telepathically.

 _This is the man you've chosen to have feelings for?_ Regis asked skeptically.

 _"I find his eccentricities fairly charming."_

 _This is more than eccentric! He deliberately antagonizes a man who looks like he could break a man in half!_

Seira said no more to Regis, and they simply moved on to Regis, who seemed even more put on the spot, now that it was his turn.

"Hm… Han Shinwoo… Truth or Dare?" Regis asked. Shinwoo laughed, and said "Dare…"

"I… I dare you to tell me how you could find it amusing to do something as inelegant and unintelligent as antagonize a man like the gatekeeper! What is going through that thick skull of yours!?"

"Oh… Well… I guess I never really thought about it that way. That's really more of a 'Truth' situation, though, rather than a 'Dare'."

"My apologies, Han Shinwoo. Miss Yuna… It's your turn…"

The game went on like this for a while. When they finally decided to end the party because Suyi said she had to be up early the next day to go to her modeling gig. So everyone helped to clean up, and then disbanded for the night.

As they left, Shinwoo pulled Seira aside. She told Regis to go ahead of her. She would be along shortly. Shinwoo took a few breaths to steady himself, looking into Seira's beautiful crimson eyes. There was something just so hypnotizing about her eyes, like he couldn't look away. Her eyes were deep pools of blood red, and he just loved them so much.

"Han Shinwoo… You're staring…"

"O-oh! I-I'm sorry!" Shinwoo shouted, causing Regis to scowl at him for his seeming lack of elegance. At least he was better than Rael, who seemed completely obsessed with Seira.

"There is no need to apologize, Shinwoo." Seira said in her near whisper that still seemed to fill the entire room.

"O-okay… I-I really, really like you, Seira. I-I know we haven't known each other for v-very long… Oh, I had this entire speech written out… B-but now I can't seem to remember what I wrote…" Shinwoo muttered, turning a deep red color, glancing away from Seira… Who merely laughed gently…

Shinwoo had known Seira for a while. She had never really laughed before. She was always so stoic and reserved… But beyond elegant… He couldn't in a million years picture her 'giggling'. But her laughter was addictive. It was beautiful, like a crystal bell. It was breathtaking.

"Shinwoo…" Seira said, leaning in and kissing him warmly on the lips. Seira's lips were soft and warm, and tasted like strawberry chapstick. Shinwoo could feel a comfortable, warm feeling spreading through his body at the moment. He was really happy.

"I like you too, Han Shinwoo." Seira whispered, her voice going even lower so that Shinwoo had to lean in to hear. When he did, she grabbed his collar and kissed him again, more passionately this time. Shinwoo sighed and embraced Seira, deepening the kiss, pushing his tongue into her mouth, closing his eyes. He had had one or two girlfriends in the past. None had been terribly serious, though.

At the time, he had hoped he could make Yuna jealous so that she would want to date him. It was Ikhan's idea… And looking back, they were ridiculous in how simplistic his thinking was. He could almost laugh at how absurd his thinking had been at the time. He had really hurt one of the girls he dated, and the other girl broke up with him when she found out his real intentions.

"Shinwoo… Are you alright?" Seira asked, looking deeply concerned about the vapid and out of focus but slightly upset look on Shinwoo's face.

"I… I just… I didn't expect you to feel the same way. I-I wonder if I'm good enough for you… You are sort of a princess, right?"

"Princess? Did I say that?"

"Well, Regis said you two were nobles. Probably from somewhere in Europe."

"It is a long story. I may tell you someday. But it is ultimately unimportant."

"But…"

"No need to question yourself, Shinwoo. I like you. And if you like me, then there is no reason we shouldn't… Go out as you say."

"What country are you from, Seira?"

"It is a small country called Lukedonia. It is… A constitutional monarchy…" Seira said, remembering her government class. It wasn't strictly speaking a constitutional monarchy. It was really more an absolute monarchy, or more accurately a government with one ruler and a council of thirteen advisors, though now there were only seven Clan Leaders left.

"What's that mean?" Shinwoo asked rather dumbly. Seira sighed.

"It means we have a queen right now, but she does not hold absolute power over the people. She looks to a Parliament of sorts to rule alongside her. The queen passes laws, but she looks to the Parliament in an advisory capacity." Seira said, simplifying it as well as she could.

"You're really smart. I… Feel a little bit inadequate… Next to you. All I'm really good at is fighting."

"That's not true, Shinwoo…" Seira said quietly, nearly in a whisper, blushing at the compliment.

"Your loyalty and honesty are both admirable traits. You're kind and strong, and you always keep your promises." Seira said, trying to feel better. Shinwoo smiled and hugged Seira, kissing her gently.

"You're kind, too… Seira… You're always taking care of everyone at the Headmaster's home. And you cook really well… Um… What time is it?" Shinwoo asked. His watch had broken the night before, and he had forgotten his phone. So he was really in hot water.

"Um… I believe it's approximately 2230h… Why do you ask, Shinwoo?" Seira asked curiously. Shinwoo cursed, hugged and kissed Seira one last time before running home, shouting over his shoulder to Seira far louder than was necessary, especially since he could have just waited fifteen more seconds to tell her directly.

"I have a Mixed Martial Arts tournament tomorrow! I need to get some sleep! Would you mind being at the… Crap! This is where the tournament is at! Would you mind being there to support me!?" Shinwoo asked. Seira nodded, taking the slip of paper. She knew where Shinwoo lived. She would be there at Shinwoo's home to wake him up personally if need be.

She was fairly sure that on a day off, he could be up earlier. Maybe his alarm clock would rouse him this time. She didn't trust that, though, so she would be at his home at 0800h to wake him for his tournament. Then she could walk there with him, and support him at the tournament. It would be like their first date. Rael would be incensed that she had taken a lover, much less a human.

He hadn't had much time for anything these days. He was mostly staying in Lukedonia after Rajak's death. It had hit him hard, and he had been devoting his time fully to training. His Soul Weapon was now complete. He had Kartas, now, though he didn't believe himself ready. He had been learning what his brother had done in that final battle.

He had erased himself entirely; his presence, his aura, his body. There was no part of him that was there. Perfect invisibility. Rael was trying to manage that. But it was hard. Even their father, Ragar had not been able to do that. But he would still be incensed when and if he came and found that Seira was dating a human. It wouldn't matter that the previous Lord had vouched for humans.

This thought made her laugh to herself. 

Seira knocked politely on Shinwoo's door. After a few minutes, a man came to the door and answered. He looked like an older version of Shinwoo. Much like the Nobles, Shinwoo's father's appearance ran in Shinwoo's blood. Shinwoo's father smiled cheerfully at Seira.

"Hey, You must be…Miss Loyard! You're as gorgeous as Shinwoo told me! Come on in! I only just managed to wake Shinwoo up about ten minutes ago! My name is Han Seong… Just call me Seong!"

"I would not feel comfortable addressing you so informally, Han…" Seira said, waiting at the door for Shinwoo to come out. His father stood back, though, insisting she come in.

"Please, make yourself comfortable! Shinwoo will take a little while." Seong said. Seira nodded. She had come early just for that reason. She was sure that he would take a while to get ready. Han had been talking about how he had joined a martial arts group recently. He mostly taught himself martial arts, and had done an astounding job.

Lately, though, M-21 and Takeo had been helping Shinwoo in a more professional capacity. They had smoothed out the edges of Shinwoo's style, and made him… Well, even more of a fighting machine than he was before. It was incredible to watch him fight. He had proven to everyone that he was able to fight even someone as physically powerful as Shark.

He didn't win. But he had shown incredible talent in that fight. Finally, Shinwoo came downstairs in his martial arts gi.

"Have fun, you two. Don't do anything I wouldn't do…" Shinwoo's father said. Seira wasn't quite sure what that was supposed to mean. But she took Shinwoo's hand as they walked out the door, and went to the tournament.

"What did your father mean 'don't do anything I wouldn't do?" Seira asked. Shinwoo sighed, shrugging.

"I think he just means that I shouldn't knock you up."

"I do not think that you would be able to do me physical harm. You are too gentle."

"No, it…" Shinwoo leaned over to her and whispered that it meant to get someone pregnant. Seira blushed deeply, and turned away.

"Han Shinwoo! Up against Park Jinseok!" Came the announcement. Seira kissed Shinwoo, causing the young red haired martial artist to blush.

"Good luck…" Seira whispered as Shinwoo went up to the floor. The two bowed to each other.

"Hey, Jinseok. I've heard of you… You're really good…"

"Yeah… I've heard of you, too, Han Shinwoo… I always thought you'd be bigger."

"Three! Two! One! Begin!" The judge yelled. The two moved in, and began to fight. Shinwoo moved quickly, sweeping Jinseok's legs, slamming him with his palm in the chest. The first round ended quickly. Jinseok growled and stood up. Shinwoo was quite talented. He had heard that Shinwoo could take down entire gangs at once, and that he had fought trained military personnel.

Jinseok wasn't sure if he believed that last part, but given Shinwoo's razor sharp focus against him, he could believe that he could fight entire gangs.

"Round two… Three… Two… One… Begin!" The judge called. Shinwoo held still for a moment, sizing Jinseong up, then moved in slowly, jumping in the air and striking at his face.

Jinseok blocked and tried to grab Shinwoo's foot, failing and watching as Shinwoo leapt back. Jinseok punched at Shinwoo, and had his hand grabbed and he was tossed aside. Fortunately for Jinseong, he landed just inside the ring, and jumped up, leaping into the air and moving to hit Shinwoo in the face. However, Shinwoo caught him right out of the air, striking him in the chest and sending him out of the ring.

The rest of the tournament went much like this. Of the thirteen matches that Shinwoo fought, he only lost three rounds in total, and came out as the winner of the tournament. It was a nationwide tournament, so he won 1.5 million Won (approximately 1300 dollars), and of course the acclaim that came with winning that kind of tournament.

"Well, well… If it isn't Han Shinwoo… Do you know who I am?"

"Hmm… Let's see… Were you in my middle school? You look about the right age. No… I would remember your face if you had been… Maybe you could give me a hint?" Shinwoo asked. Seira's eyes narrowed. This wasn't a normal person, and she remembered him perfectly.

"First Elder Tesamu…" Seira said, bowing politely, as Tesamu was in his Elder garments.

"I'm flattered that such a lovely young woman remembers me. The professor hasn't mentioned me of late, has he?" Tesamu asked, looking slightly hopeful

"I'm afraid not, Elder. I believe he has no intention of joining the Union. You really should give up now.

"There is no way that I could fight you, but I'm on a date with Shinwoo, and I would appreciate it if you would be so kind as to allow us to be on our way."

"Ah, of course, of course… You're a lucky young man, Han Shinwoo… But I actually came today to try to recruit you to be one of the Union's junior members."

"The… Union? I've never heard of it. Is it an MMA group?"

"No. We're a sociopolitical organization that has ties with almost every major government in the world. We tend to operate in secret, and have technology that you couldn't imagine in your wildest dreams. Oh, my… That look on your girlfriend's face sure is scary.

"I fear she may be fit to murder me if I continue. Ask her more about her homeland. You'll find that she, and many of her and your friends are not all they seem… Well, before I get decapitated by the Shinigami's death scythe, I had better take my leave. I wish you an excellent date, Han Shinwoo." Tesamu said politely, turning and walking away.

Shinwoo scratched his head. He was pretty sure that the Shinigami reference wasn't just a colorful euphemism if he had also said that he feared being decapitated by her.

"What was he talking about, Seira…? That was really weird."

"Please don't dig any deeper than you have to, Shinwoo… You'll be happier not knowing the truth."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

"Hey, Principal Lee!" Shinwoo yelled, buzzing at the door with Seira standing silently next to him, still looking terribly upset. Frankenstein sighed, knowing that his house was going to become a terrible mess again. He had come to expect it, but it still wasn't any easier to deal with watching crumbs falling all over his floor.

"Please, Han Shinwoo… Come in…" Frankenstein said with a polite smile. Regis groaned. Frankenstein was going to be in a terrible mood later.

"May I speak with you in private, Headmaster?" Seira asked politely in her typical near whisper. Frankenstein nodded.

"Is something wrong, Miss Seira?" Frankenstein asked. Seira nodded, tears stinging her ruby red eyes.

"Did something happen at the tournament?"

Seira nodded again.

"We were… Confronted by Tesamu… He… spoke to Shinwoo outside the tournament, and tried to recruit him to be an agent for the Union. Shinwoo said no. But… Tesamu told him to dig deeper into my family and my background. I-I told Shinwoo that he'd be happier not knowing…

"But knowing him, he'll keep looking, even if I said that."

"I understand. Master and I will take care of the situation."

"Thank you, Headmaster… You seem to keep having to get Shinwoo and his friends out of trouble."

"It's no problem, hahahaha! After all, I'm a kind and caring headmaster, hahahaha!" Frankenstein said, walking out into the sitting room and sitting down across from Shinwoo, looking at him firmly.

"Han Shinwoo… You seem to keep getting yourself in trouble with the Union, hmhmhm! It's starting to get somewhat troublesome, young man."

"I keep getting myself in trouble with them? You mean this isn't the first time?"

"Of course not. Knowing your proclivity for being places and doing things you're not supposed to, would you expect it to have been your first time? No. If it makes you feel any better, all of the times before, you got hurt by them protecting your friends.

"And I must say, your ability to grow and learn from your encounters with these superhumans is impressive. You see, the Union is far more than a simple sociopolitical group. They are an organization that has existed for longer than anyone today can remember, likely since the times of ancient Greece and Rome. They've manipulated governments and controlled information from behind the scenes since then.

"Incidentally, they also have high level science that allows them to create modified humans that can fight at superhuman levels. Tesamu was once an apprentice of mine. But he seems to have joined the Union using some of the data that I made, but had to abandon, and become the top Elder.

"You no doubt know that he tried to recruit you, and would have turned you into a modified human if you had accepted. Of course, they don't always use such scrupulous tactics. M-21 here was kidnapped and turned into an experimental modified human against his will. Of course, I'm only telling you this because you will soon be forgetting all of it."

"This isn't the sort of thing you just forget. It sounds like some bizarre stuff out of a science-fiction game. Why should I believe you? I admit that the First Elder looked young, but there's no way he could be supernatural."

"Do you believe in magic, Shinwoo?" Frankenstein asked with a smile.

"How can I help but believe in magic. It must be some sort of magic that made Seira fall for me…"

"Well… Then why can't you believe in superscience? That's not any more bizarre than magic, is it?"

"Well, no… But what does Seira have to do with it? Temasu or whatever his name was mentioned her."

"That's not my question to answer. I won't take that answer away from Miss Seira."

"I can't answer that question, Shinwoo… I-I won't demand that you have your memory erased if you don't want to. But I can't answer that question… Not yet, anyway."

"Then… Someday you'll answer it?"

"Maybe someday I'll tell you the truth again."

"Wait!" Shinwoo protested. "You mean you've told me this before, and I still don't remember!? How is that possible!?"

"Master and I both have very strong mind control. We can erase your memory about as easily as we can tell you about it."

"I see… I-it's up to you, Seira. I'll let you decide whether they erase my memory. I want to be able to remember everything about my time with you… Whether it lasts one week or a lifetime… So… You know, whatever makes you feel most comfortable." Shinwoo said uncertainly, knowing that Seira would probably know better than him what was best.

First of all, Seira seemed to be more familiar with all of this, and although he didn't want his memory to be erased… Again, as it seemed to have become a habit for him to have to have his memory modified, he also didn't want to make Seira feel uncomfortable. He would take this secret to his grave if necessary. But he wanted to share in all aspects of Seira's life. Even if they broke up someday, he wanted to know that he had made a difference in her life.

"Before you modify my memory… Tell me, Seira… How old are you all… Really?"

"Regis and I are fairly young by Noble standards. I am only 220 years old, and Regis is barely over 100 years of age. He has not even come of age, yet. Raizel-nim and the Headmaster are much older…"

"Master and I are each over 1000 years old. That is one of the reasons that Master has difficulty in the modern age. Cell phones, computers, electronics… None of these are familiar to him." Frankenstein said quietly, looking over at Raizel, who was helplessly clicking through his new phone. It was the latest model, but Raizel was hopeless with it. He seemed to only be able to click through it endlessly, never really getting anywhere.

Shinwoo walked over to Raizel and saw him clicking through his phone, sighing.

"What are you trying to do on the phone?" He asked.

"Contacts…" Raizel said simply. Shinwoo laughed and grabbed the phone rather unceremoniously from Rai, and began programming in everyone's phone numbers.

"Hey, Ras! What's your phone number!?"

"I… Do not have one." Raskreia said. Shinwoo raised an eyebrow.

"You need to get one so you and Rai can stay in contact!"

"Have you ever considered learning to use your indoor voice?" Raskreia asked with just the barest hint of a smile at her own joke. The rest of the group was struck dumb for a moment, then Regis snickered a bit. Somebody had needed to tell Shinwoo that for over a year now. Shinwoo seemed just as dumbstruck. Her smile was incredible. Something about it radiated such incredible power, such force of will.

He couldn't quite put a finger on what it was.

"So… Seira… B-before you mind wipe me, what are Rai and Ras to you? And for that matter, Rael, and all the other 'family members' that seem to keep coming."

"Raskreia-nim is our Lord. She is the highest ranked Noble in Lukedonia. She would be like the president is here. And Raizel-nim is… Hard to place. He's… Really more of an executioner. Unfortunately, his talents have been needed more and more lately. With our fight against the Union, which is run by the young man we saw coming out of the martial arts tournament.

"Raizel-nim is the Noblesse, and his power is greater than that of any other Noble… But… So is the burden of his power." Seira said, seeming sad.

"Let me explain, Shinwoo… Maybe it would be easier to understand like this." Frankenstein said with a sad smile.

"Master's power is like a cell phone. Now, imagine that, at maximum, that cell phone has 1,000% battery. That's technically impossible, but for the sake of argument, say that it's the case.

"Unfortunately, our Master Cell Phone doesn't have a way to be plugged in. He can't recharge his battery. Thus, every time he uses his powers, he becomes weaker. When you first met Master, he was just awoken from an 820 year hibernation.

"This happened because for reasons unimportant right now, he had to use a great deal of power, and became very weak. By the time he went into Hibernation, which is meant to be regenerative, he was already beyond saving.

"Now… He may be at 100% battery. But remember, he was at 1,000% to begin with. So 100% isn't a lot. He's… For lack of a better way to say it, dying. Every time he uses his powers, he becomes weaker. I'm… Working on modifying him so that he can recover some of that power. But it's not easy to recover, now."

"Rai… Y-you're… Dying?"

"Frankenstein exaggerates. I am well for the time being." Raizel said softly, still sitting there serenely, drinking his tea with that calm, but slightly far off expression, as if he were looking hundreds of kilometers into the distance.

"B-but… You will die…"

"Everyone dies. I die. You die. The Lord will die. Nobody is exempt from that fate." Raizel said, seeming to brook no dissent on this declaration. His calm acceptance was slightly unnerving, though. Raskreia knew what happened when one Noblesse died. Her father described the reincarnation cycle of the Noblesse.

 _"Raskreia… Do you realize how energy works? It never leaves this earth. When we use our energy, it only changes. Such is true for the Noblesse as well. Even the Noblesse, who is the most powerful Noble of all cannot live forever. In fact, His life is tragic. He must pass judgment on all Nobles, and every time he uses his power, he becomes weaker._

 _"Unlike most Nobles, Raizel-nim cannot recuperate his power. The Chinese call it ki… The Indians call it Chakras. Whatever you call it, it is finite for Raizel. He has a large store of it that he can use more or less efficiently depending on how powerful his attacks are. When his energy runs out, he will die and go into Eternal Sleep._

 _"However, unlike most Nobles, his bloodline doesn't depend on having children. He reincarnates. Assuming he has enough energy left, he can force his own reincarnation to make himself take the same form as before. If not, he will change into a member of the opposite sex, and will be born an adult with full memories of her previous life._

 _"However, should this happen, 'she' will be very confused. Reincarnation is a traumatic experience, and causes mental and emotional backlash. Usually, the effects only last a few days at most. But she will need the help of the Lord and the Clan Leaders to be safe, and to keep out of trouble."_

 _"But, Father… Where does the Noblesse's power come from?"_

 _"Well… You see… Lukedonia is a place of natural power, amplified by generations of Nobles living on it. When one Clan Leader enters Eternal Slumber, most of their energy is invested in the Soul Weapon and passed down to their eldest. However, a relatively small portion is stored aside for the Noblesse._

 _"The Noblesse did not always exist. Nobles existed for at least 5,000 years before the Noblesse came along. And the Nobles had decided about 1,000 years before that to start storing energy in a reserve that we called Noblesse Oblige. And after 1,000 years of storing energy in it, a Noble was created that had some powers in common with the Lord, but her purpose was different._

 _"The Lord's purpose was to rule. The Noblesse's purpose was to judge, and if need be, to execute. However, since the Noblesse is 'synthetic' for lack of a better term, we couldn't give him or her a naturally replenishing pool of energy. Do you understand?_

 _"That Raizel… He's so lonely. He understands his purpose, but believes that his calling forces him to seclude himself. Maybe you could try being his friend… He could really use some friends…"_

 _"Yes, Father. I shall do my best."_ Raskreia said, bowing politely.

"Did you know all this, Ras!? Did you know that Rai is dying!?" Shinwoo demanded. Raskreia nodded once.

"I am aware. We have all done our best to spare Raizel the need to expend his limited energy fighting the Union. However, his sense of duty and obligation toward both the Nobles and the Humans overwhelms his sense of self preservation. I would gladly fight instead of him.

"But his Noble Obligation would not allow it." Raskreia said. Frankenstein looked at his watch. It was getting dark.

"Shinwoo… It is starting to get late. Perhaps you should go home."

"I will walk you, Shinwoo…"

"No, I can't make you do that… Who would walk you back to the Headmaster's house. You can't be outside alone at night." Shinwoo said. Seira actually laughed at this.

"Do you really believe that I need to be protected? I will be fine, I promise…" She said, kissing Shinwoo to shut him up. Shinwoo nodded, and slipped his shoes on, walking out the door, saying goodbye to everyone.

"So… Seira… A-aren't you going to erase my memory?" Shinwoo asked. Seira seemed to think for a moment. Then, she shook her head.

"No… You seem to want to remember. And frequent removal of memories can have a damaging effect on overall intelligence. We would not want your brain to be adversely affected. I simply need your promise that you will not tell anyone what you have learned?

"If you do, we will be forced to remove your memories, and theirs. Have a good night. I love you." Seira said, kissing Shinwoo once more as he walked in the door, gasping and blushing. He muttered a rushed "I love you, too…" as he closed the door, too stunned to really say much else.

"Shinwoo! Glad you're home! We have a very prestigious guest over tonight! He says you've met, already.

"T-Tesamu! That… First Elder guy! Y-you're the one I saw at the martial arts tournament! Dad! How do you know this man!?"

"Are you kidding? He's been the boss of my organization for hundreds of years!"


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

"Are you freaking kidding me, Dad!? This guy is your boss!?" Shinwoo demanded, pointing rather rudely at Tesamu.

"Shinwoo, First Elder, First Elder-nim, this is my son…"

"I know, I know." Tesamu laughed. "I met him earlier today outside of his martial arts tournament. I'm in Korea on a bit of a pressing issue. But… I decided to go to the tournament since I heard that some very special fighters would be there. And I was certainly right. Your son is a very special young man. Not terribly so intellectually. But physically, he's quite possibly one of the strongest normal humans I've ever met.

"And very brave. Were you aware that he was willing, and even eager to fight not only Jake… You remember Jake, right? Hulking man, somewhat gray complexion? Always angry?" Tesamu asked. Shinwoo's father nodded.

"Exactly, but also an Infected… He fought against members of DA-5… He came pretty damn close to death a few times, but he always survived, obviously…

"I was trying to recruit him for the Union. Of course, we would allow him to finish high school first, but…"

"I'll never join you. I don't know exactly why Seira doesn't like you. But she doesn't, and that's enough for me."

"You mean she hasn't told you? Some Union agents killed her father. Her father, the previous leader of the Loyard Clan, was trying to protect humans by going up against some Union agents, and he died in doing so. It was very ill advised of him to fight the Union. So it was ultimately his own fault that he died. He didn't have to."

"You monsters! How could you kill her father!? Are you really the kind of people that would deliberately harm humans!? And for what purpose!?"

"We did not deliberately harm humans… You see, humans just inadvertently get caught up in our fights. It isn't their fault. But we can't stop fighting just because there are humans.

"There are reasons why we do what we do. We've got more power than anyone on earth. Most of our agents could take on entire human armies alone and win. But that's not what we want. Some of our agents are a little bit arrogant. Some of them… Many of them, even… End up using their powers for the wrong purposes… I believe that you and your father could turn the Union around, though.

"Between your skill in martial arts and your incredible humanity, I think you could help me turn the Union into exactly what it needs to be to truly help the world."

"I refuse!" Shinwoo said, feeling like he was beginning to recall vague memories of the incidents that Tesamu had mentioned. Tesamu didn't seem terribly upset.

And he wasn't. The Union always got what the Union wanted. And right now, he wanted Shinwoo as an agent. Shinwoo was… For lack of a better term, a Posthuman… He was still young, and had not yet fully come into his powers. But Seong had been genetically modified by the Union, and when Seong passed those genes on to Shinwoo, he made a being who was born 'perfected'.

Both Crombel and Tesamu, and several other scientists had been involved in that project, and now, the culmination of their efforts was standing right in front of them. Shinwoo was only seventeen, now. But… By the time he was 21, his genes would fully evolve, and he would become a true fighting machine. Of course, Tesamu could expedite that process. And it seemed as though he might have to.

Tesamu's eyes flashed, and he seemed to move faster than Shinwoo could have imagined, and he felt a sudden bolt in his side. Shinwoo gasped, collapsing to the ground. Seong gasped and jumped up, grabbing Tesamu.

"Remove your hand, agent…" Tesamu said disdainfully, finally showing his true colors.

"What did you do to my son!? You monster! You promised you wouldn't hurt him!"

"A promise made is a promise kept. Look at him. He's fine. I did not injure him in any way. I merely used my powers to forcibly awaken him. He is currently just unconscious simply because the shock of the sudden awakening. He should wake up in about two hours."

"I need you to leave, now, First Elder. I respect that you…"

"No need to go on. I thank you for letting me meet your son, finally. Tell your son to take these stabilizing pills when he wakes up, and then one a day for two weeks. They are unlikely to be needed. But it is better to be safe than sorry. Be well, Seong. And report on Monday for your next assignment."

"Actually, First Elder… I must respectfully request that you grant me permission to resign from my post as a military trainer. I've been working for the Union for how long, now? God, the years have really flown by. But… I'm getting tired. My son has, in large part, grown up without me. And… Even this late in his life… I need to start being there for him. He's got a girlfriend, now… As his father, I would be remiss if I weren't there to council him where he needed it."

"I understand, Han Seong. I appreciate your dilemma. I cannot simply allow you to resign from the Union. One does not leave the Union, especially after your 95 years of service. You know too much. However, I can move you to an advisory position. Saoírse has expressed need for an agent in Korea who can keep her up to date on goings on, and occasionally spar with her.

"Would you be amenable to that?" Tesamu asked. Seong seemed surprised.

"Saoírse wants me as a sparring partner? She's quite talented at fighting. Even the werewolves in the Union have trouble overpowering her."

"If it were only about power, the fight wouldn't be very interesting. I'm attempting to get the cooperation of a former teacher of mine. His experience would be invaluable to our agents. I understand that your son is friendly with him. Perhaps Shinwoo could attempt to persuade him?"

"I-I… I'll see what I can do, First Elder-nim. I don't know that Shinwoo would understand what the Union is really about. He's not really apt to understand heavily political stuff. And he is dating a Noble, right now. I think that her impression of the Union would be far different from yours or mine."

"I understand. The shock of the Awakening will probably have wiped his memory of me attacking him. I find that I can be very convincing. I can force him to be my ally if I must. I do not want to, though. I believe that the time when the Union should use such heavy handed tactics is ending. We have already brought more than 88% of the world's governments under our control.

"The ones that are not under our control are governments that are inherently unstable, and would be difficult to control due to the high turnover rate of government agents in it. Take many of the countries in Africa, for instance. Most of its governments are not stable enough to be controlled. They are either controlled by a warlord, or by a man with great charisma that can bend others to his will with his force of personality.

"That does not make a stable government."

"I know. We are far from controlling the world, though. Since we don't want to use open force to overthrow said warlords and leaders, we do not rule those countries from the shadows. Most of what the Union does, the vast majority of the world doesn't know about. We have always operated in secret, and that is as it should be."

"No. We need to be open with the world, Seong. There is no reason that the Union can't openly be the power behind every throne on earth. Wouldn't you like that? You could be a top member of the organization that controls the entire world, that has seen empires rise and fall, and has stayed strong, infallible through them all. Rome? Fleeting. The Persian Empire? The blink of an eye. But we… We have existed through all of them.

"Wouldn't it be an honor to be there to watch our ascension?" Tesamu asked. Seong sighed, but shook his head sadly. There had been a time when that would have been appealing, but not anymore.

"I don't really want that kind of power. I only want to be a good father to my son. He's at an age where he needs a strong male role model. And he has that principal of his whom he really seems to admire. But what about his father? His father needs to step up.

"I appreciate your offer of an advisory position. But I must turn it down. I'm sorry." Seong said quietly. Tesamu looked at him with a calculating stare, seeming to size him up in an instant.

"I understand. Unfortunately, there is protocol to follow. I could easily erase your memory of everything to do with the Union. But that would leave you in a coma from which you may not awaken, and if you did awaken from it, you would be worse than useless.

"I believe the kinder course of action would be simply to absorb you, and take all of your combat experience for myself. I could create half a dozen clones that would have all of your experience, all of your power and strength, but none of your disloyalty. Please do not get me wrong. I have nothing against you. It's simple bureaucracy, and not even I, the First Elder, can bypass it. Do you understand?"

"I do. But I can't go down without a fight. So it seems as though this is going to be a battle to the death, First Elder-nim." Seong said, moving forward at superhuman speed, punching Tesamu, sending him flying across the room into the opposite wall, crushing it. The sound of this, seemed to rouse Shinwoo, who stirred slightly.

 _Stay down, Shinwoo. Then run when I tell you. I love you, Shinwoo. I never wanted this life for you._ Seong said telepathically. Shinwoo saw the battle going on. He knew he was helpless. But he couldn't just stay down. What kind of person would he be if he just let his father be killed. Shinwoo stood and faced Tesamu.

"Dad. I can see we have a lot to discuss, but I'm feeling fine, strong… More powerful than ever." Shinwoo said quietly, glaring at Tesamu, who smiled politely at Shinwoo.

"Han Shinwoo… If you would… Indulge me for a moment, I'm going to ask you to do something. Put your arm out and will it to produce a tentacle, extend and absorb that tree over there, then return to you."

"What? I can't do that! That's ridiculous!"

"Oh? Well, not with that attitude, you can't. Just try. I promise that it will be enlightening for you and your father."

Shinwoo, feeling foolish for even attempting this, extended his arm, and barely had the thought crossed his mind when a long tentacle of biomass extended and the tree that sat next to their house's entrance was completely absorbed into it, and it retracted into Shinwoo's arm.

Shinwoo immediately wished he was faster and stronger so that he could fight this man. And strangely, it seemed to happen. There was no making sense of it. But Shinwoo moved and extended his arm much further than he should have been able to, and wound it around Tesamu's leg, throwing him first into the wall, then into the other wall.

"Get out! And don't come back! Ever!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that. Your father has betrayed the Union. He can't just be allowed to go free. If we allowed that, where would it end? We'd lose agents left and right.

"Sorry, Seong. You were a good agent." Tesamu said, releasing a dozen tentacles, which surrounded and grappled Seong, dragging him in, and turning him into Biomass, absorbing it within seconds. After that, Tesamu smirked at Shinwoo.

"I have a small… I wouldn't even call it a gift. Your father clearly taught you everything you know about fighting. But he didn't teach you everything he knows. So here." Tesamu said, the tentacle extending, and piercing Shinwoo's head. Suddenly, Shinwoo felt a huge surge of knowledge and skill. Martial arts moves that he never would have considered before flowed through his mind.

"Have an excellent evening, Han Shinwoo. Oh, and you are free to tell the Professor about what I've done. But I would appreciate if you would put a good word in for me."

"I… I…" Shinwoo couldn't even talk. He was so shocked by what Tesamu had just done. He could barely breathe. His entire world was spinning around him.

"Just consider it. I didn't want to kill him. I had no choice. How would you deal with a betrayal?" Tesamu asked before moving to the door in the blink of an eye, and said goodbye to Shinwoo as though they had just had a friendly discussion instead of a battle in which Tesamu had killed his father.

As soon as he was sure that Tesamu was long gone, he rushed into his shoes and ran to Frankenstein's house, not stopping for a minute until he got there.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

"Headmaster! HEADMASTER LEE!" Shinwoo yelled, his voice projecting much better than he expected it too. He had always had a loud voice. But now, neighbors' lights were turning on left and right.

"Ah, Han Shinwoo…" Frankenstein said, not seeming happy to see Shinwoo again. Shinwoo stopped yelling, and simply sighed.

"Sorry I bothered you, Headmaster Lee…"

"No, please… Come in, Shinwoo… You seem troubled by something…" Seira said, shoving Frankenstein aside, accidentally using more strength than she intended, and sending him staggering a few feet before he caught his balance, and sighed.

"Yes, of course you can come in, Shinwoo."

"So… What's wrong, Shinwoo? You seem quite upset about something?"

"W-w-what d-do you mean?" Shinwoo asked.

"Well… You haven't eaten any of the cookies I put out. Usually you would have plowed through the entire bowl by now."

"O-oh… I… Had a big dinner?"

"That won't work. Shinwoo, you're shaking. What happened? I can just read your mind if I need to, but I don't want to. It would be wrong."

"I-I… That blonde kid that Seira and I ran to was at my house when I came home. My dad seemed to know him. He called him the First Elder. I think his name was Tesamu, and… A-and… H-he said… I don't remember much after that, but when I woke up they were arguing, and dad attacked Tesamu. Tesamu grew tentacles though and absorbed my father. And… I-I have the same ability, now. I don't get it.

"I ran here faster than any human. I'm stronger than I could possibly be, I used the tentacles to absorb a tree, and I feel like I'm smarter too… I'm not holding my breath on that one, though."

"Oh, I would imagine that if you have what I am sensing in you, that you are far more powerful than you can even imagine right now.

"So… I-I'm a Modified Human, now?" Shinwoo asked, seeming scared, looking at Seira, who looked evenly at him, not saying a word, but not seeming angry in the least.

"Not as such. I have a good sense for modified humans. Even subtly modified ones I can usually detect, and if I can't, Master can do so with great ease.

"I can determine that you are a Biouser. But I sense something else in you. It is… Something that I've sensed for a long time, but never paid much mind to because it was so subtle. It was almost unnoticeable. Even Tao never noticed it…" Frankenstein said, feeling worried.

"I will… Have a talk with the First Elder. He and I used to be somewhat acquainted. I'm certain that he would be ashamed of himself if he realized what he was really doing. Would you allow me to do some testing on you? I'm certain I could discover the source of the anomaly if I could run a test."

"I-I… Aren't you a principal? I'm not sure it would be good for you to be doing surgery on me…"

"Han Shinwoo… Come with me to the basement. I am a principal. But I've worked on all three of my modified humans. I'm planning to do a little bit of work on Master as well, though he is far more hesitant to be worked on by me."

"Wait! Rai is going to be worked on! I thought he was one of those Nobles!"

"Well, yes, but his life force is disappearing rapidly. It's not so much a disease. Even I don't know why it works that way.

"But the Noblesse is born with a certain amount of life energy, Ki if you will. It is an overwhelming amount of Ki, but with each use of his powers, his Ki pool becomes smaller and smaller. And now, he has so little left that even a single use could cause him to fall into Hibernation again."

"You mean, for another 820 years!? I'll be dead by then!"

"I doubt it. Unless something happens that completely obliterates your body, it's highly unlikely that you would die. Your regeneration factor would prevent death. You could have your head ripped off and your heart torn from your chest and you would not die."

"Holy shit! How is that possible!?"

"Do you read comic books, Shinwoo? Specifically X-Men?" Tao asked, smiling cheerfully, trying to meet the stunned Shinwoo on a level that he could appreciate.

"Y-y-yes… O-of course…"

"Well… Deadpool and Wolverine in particular have incredible regeneration. You could do a lot of things to them and they would completely regenerate. Take Deadpool in particular. Death literally cannot affect him. That's part of his curse, but his regeneration factor would still regenerate any organ that was removed. Wolverine can regenerate, but to a lesser extent.

"Now, you… If I'm understanding Frankenstein's explanation of your power, could regenerate from a single cell…"

"Well… Your body will automatically begin to adapt over time to your needs as the virus becomes accustomed to you. If you encounter fire even once, you will become resistant if not immune to flames. The same with acid, physical assault.

"Soon, you will be subject to almost nothing. Certain things will be difficult to immunize yourself to. My Dark Spear, for instance is uncanny in its ability to overcome resistance to damage."

"Ahaha! Frankenstein… Are you sure you're not underselling its ability!?" Tao asked.

"As I remember, it completely annihilated Werewolf, Noble, and modified human enemies. That monster is terrifying. Even you can't completely control it!" Tao continued. Frankenstein laughed.

"Now, now! Ahahaha! You're going to scare the poor boy!"

"So… I-I'm… I'm what? Invincible, now?" Shinwoo asked.

"But what about my father? My mother is dead. My father is the only one who was left, and now I have nobody to live with. I don't really know any of my father's or mother's family. I was never introduced."

"Could you perhaps stay with a friend? How about Ikhan?"

"I couldn't just expect him to take care of me indefinitely. Do you think I could borrow the lounge at the school for a little while? Do I need to eat as a Biouser?"

"Well, no, you don't need to eat as a biouser. It doesn't hurt you to eat. But if you stop eating, your body won't allow you to starve. It will produce enough to keep you healthy. But I can't let you stay at the school. What kind of headmaster would allow one of his students to go without a place to live. I have several homes around the area. I'm certain I could… Set you up in an apartment as long as you promise to keep it neat and clean… I need that promise from you, Shinwoo."

"I-I could never ask you to do that! I can't ask you to spend that kind of money on me!"

"Shinwoo… I'm already sheltering four Nobles, two modified humans, and a Werewolf. I don't think that one more person would hurt me. Besides, you and your friends are my Master's beloved friends. He would never forgive me if I left you to fend for yourself."

"Th-thank you, Principal Lee. I-I don't know what to say."

"Say that you promise to keep my home neat and tidy, and that you won't invite half the school over and wreck the place with a stupid kid's party."

"Of course not, Principal Lee. So… Do you think you could help me learn how to use my new powers? I… Could probably train myself to do it. But it's much easier to have a master. I've already got all my father's skill in martial arts. I'm sure you could teach me much more."

"Ahaha! Well… You flatter me, Shinwoo! I suppose I am the best person to teach you the use of your powers! Tomorrow is Sunday. Come to me tomorrow. Be here bright and early. 0400h. I will begin to teach you how to really fight."

"Good morning, Principal Lee! I'm here!" Shinwoo called over the intercom. Frankenstein checked his watch. Shinwoo had shown up only five minutes late. He was getting much better. Actually, he probably hadn't slept the previous night.

"You're right on time this morning, Shinwoo… Did you set your alarm extra loud today?"

"I couldn't sleep… But I'm not tired at all… C'mon! Let's train!" Shinwoo yelled. Frankenstein nodded and opened the door.

"No need to come inside. Your first order is to make a 16.7 kilometer circuit five times. You have… thirty minutes… Every minute after that you haven't completed it, you will have to do 500 pull ups and 500 pushups with each hand and 200 sit ups. Do we understand each other, Shinwoo?" Frankenstein asked with a bright, cheerful smile. Remember that I have set up a perfect ten mile circuit for you.

Shinwoo shivered, and set off running. As soon as he turned, Frankenstein clicked the stopwatch. He would time Shinwoo's running. He had gone around town with Tao, Takeo and M-21 to set up the ten kilometers for Shinwoo.

Eight minutes later, Shinwoo passed him for the first time.

 _You had better start running faster. At this rate, you'll never make 83 kilometers in time._

 _"Yes…"_ Shinwoo responded, speeding up.

Five minutes after that, he passed Frankenstein for the second time. After that, it took 6 minutes. Another seven minutes, and he passed again. And another seven minutes, and he passed for the last time, pulling to a stop and gasping for breath. Even with Biomass Manipulation.

"Very well done… However, you were three minutes late. That means you have to do 1500 pull ups and 1500 pushups with each hand, and 600 sit ups. I have a padded dojo downstairs. I use it to train occasionally, though I do prefer to do my combat training in nature or in the city so that I can learn to work with my surroundings."

"Cool… Do I really have to do that big a workout…? That's a lot of pull ups, pushups and sit ups."

"Every time you complain from now on, you will have to do 100 pushups with each hand. This one, I will give you for free."

"Yes… I understand…" Shinwoo sighed, following Frankenstein downstairs, deep under the city to a huge dojo where there were bars for pull ups, and mirrors for watching yourself. There was every weapon you could imagine, all made seemingly from the finest materials. Shinwoo hurried over to the pull up bars, and leapt up to a high one so that his feet didn't touch the ground, pulling up with one hand, finding it surprisingly easy.

He did the 1500. Frankenstein clicked the counter each time he pulled up. When Shinwoo switched hands, his right arm was burning. But he did the same for his left arm and at the end, it wasn't feeling too great either.

After his punishment workout, he dropped, taking a moment to rest. Frankenstein moved fast, though and kicked him across the room. Only Shinwoo's enhanced reflexes saved him. He twisted in the air, and landed on his feet.

"Hey! What the hell, Principal Lee!?"

"That's Master Lee to you! Now, get ready to fight… We're going to spar. After this six hour sparring session, you can go home. I expect you to run 83 kilometers every day, though, even on days that we don't meet to practice.

"When you get here next week on the same day at the same time, I expect you to be faster in finishing the 83 kilometers. I will set up several paths that you can take that will be 83 kilometers."

"Yes, Master Lee…" Shinwoo said, standing up and bowing to Frankenstein, getting ready to fight. It didn't take long for Shinwoo to realize that he was way outclassed in terms of experience, strength, speed and general cunning in combat.

"Um, Master Lee… How long have you had to perfect your martial arts style?"

"Well, Shinwoo. I'm not sure I would call this a style. It isn't really as structured as a style. I've just honed my fighting skills over hundreds, over thousands of years of fighting against Clan Leaders, Union Elders, and even the militaries of many countries. I've learned many styles of martial arts and integrated them into my combat. But I don't have a 'style' per se."

"I see… Then I'm not supposed to be learning and picking up your style of fighting?"

"No, Shinwoo… My style of fighting is far too chaotic. Part of the reason that I'm so strong in fighting is because of my weapon. I won't take it out, and hopefully you'll never have to see it. But I've been told that it is soul crushingly terrifying to fight against…"

"Okay…" Shinwoo said, kicking at Frankenstein, who dodged, and grabbed Shinwoo's leg as he came back down, trying to duck under Frankenstein's punch. Frankenstein smirked, though and grabbed Shinwoo's arm, tripped him and did a palm strike to his chest, sending him flying across the room into the far wall.

"Come, Shinwoo… You're not tired already, are you?" Frankenstein asked, laughing as he advanced on Shinwoo, who gasped, feeling a strange, terrifying aura coming off of Frankenstein. Fortunately, Raizel appeared behind Frankenstein, putting his hand on his shoulder, shaking his head.

Frankenstein sighed, and helped Shinwoo stand up.

"I suppose we can call it quits for today. Your skill in fighting was greater than I expected. I'll see you on Monday. Enjoy the rest of your weekend."

"Thank you, and… Th-thanks for letting me use the spare house. Are you sure there's nothing I can do to pay for it?"

"Nothing… You're my master's friend… You've already done more for him, and therefore for me than you could possibly know. Get to bed early, um…

"Oh, stop… Come upstairs with me for a little bit. I've got some biomass for you to absorb. I'm afraid that I had to replace my refrigerator recently due to the seal being damaged, and a lot of meat spoiled. I do hate to just throw it out…"

"What? Look, Principal Lee… I appreciate all this, but I'm not eating spoiled meat."

"No… Not eating it. Absorbing it. Do you remember how I told you that you can absorb anything that is or was once living? If you can extend your tendrils far enough, you could even absorb a colony of ants, if you were so inclined."

"I see… Why don't you just absorb it, Principal Lee?"

"I don't have Biomass Manipulation. I created the virus that catalyzes the change that creates a biouser. But I never used it on myself."

"What!? Why not? Don't you want that power?"

"I've already discovered that I can't be trusted with power. The power that I have already goes to my head sometimes. I would need my Master's permission if I were to want to turn myself into such an almighty being."

"As I recall, you often did not wait for my permission in the past, Frankenstein." Rai said with a smirk. "But… You have my permission if you wish to continue to experiment on yourself with any experiments that you have, as long as you promise that you will not abuse your powers again." The incredibly elegant man said. Frankenstein bowed.

"Yes, Master… Please, come, Shinwoo… I apologize for having you absorb rotten meat. But, it is biomass, and it will help you recuperate after your intense workout. We can use the elevator this time." Frankenstein said, taking the two to the elevator and bringing them to the kitchen where, in a sealed garbage unit, there was a large pile of meat that immediately assaulted Shinwoo's senses.

Shinwoo created an absorption tentacle, though, and, barely had he touched the meat before it was all gone, absorbed into his body. Shinwoo sighed, realizing that he felt much better.

"Good… Now, use the biomass however you like. Here's a book. I suggest that you read the entire thing. If you have any questions, you may ask me next Sunday."

"Yes, Principal Lee…" Shinwoo said, smiling gratefully. He began going to work with his Biomass, improving all of his physical abilities with it. Already, he felt much more powerful. He would have to improve his mental abilities more in the future as well. He was sure that if he did, he could be more creative like Principal Lee in combat. Principal Lee seemed always to be ten moves ahead of him when they were sparring. But that was good.

That meant that he could improve himself, close the dimensional gap between them. Shinwoo had been taught that there was always more that he could learn. And he had a lot to learn now. But now, all he wanted to do was sleep. He would take a short nap, and then get up and meet up with his friends.

Collapsing into bed, he was almost immediately asleep, snoring loudly.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

Shinwoo didn't wake up until the next morning when his alarm clock went off. He looked at the time. He had slept for an entire fifteen hours. Perhaps he had needed it. But he was wide awake, now. He jumped up, took his shower in the fanciest bathroom he had ever had the chance to really use outside of Principal Lee's bathroom.

That man had really amazing taste. Though, if he was as old, brilliant, and talented as he claimed to be, it would be almost impossible not to have such good taste. Shinwoo jumped out of the shower, and tested his Biomass Manipulation to see if it could help with household things. He concentrated on that thought, and then felt his hair, finding that it was perfectly dry. He went into his bedroom and got dressed.

Shinwoo sighed. He was feeling really energetic that day. Stronger and more awake than ever. He put on his clothes, and went out to make some breakfast. He made some eggs, sausage and toast, and then looked at his watch. He had a little bit of time, still before he had to leave. So he sat down and made sure everything was in his backpack. When he was sure that it was, he started walking to school.

The distance between this place was a little bit further from his school than his old house. But he didn't mind. He ran as quickly as he could without seeming out of the ordinary. After all, someone being able to run over 100 kilometers per hour would stick out, assuming anyone could see him running that fast.

Soon, he made it to school, finding himself pretty early, so he went down to Principal Lee's office, and knocked on the door.

"Come in. Ah, Shinwoo… Please, come, sit down…" Frankenstein said with a bright smile.

"Tell me… Are you experiencing any pain or any discomfort due to yesterday's intense training?"

"No. I went home and slept for fifteen hours. Then I woke up and went through my morning routine. I ate breakfast and came running here. I'm actually feeling better than ever."

"Good. Well, I'll allow you to skip your morning exercise routine today. But keep it in mind for the future. I didn't expect any aches or pains. But the doctor in me demanded that I ask. Now, I know that you sometimes get in fights with local gangs protecting your friends. I would ask that you at least attempt to find a more peaceful solution from now on.

"I do not blame you for wanting to protect your friends. That is very noble. But your ability to fight now should be far more advanced than any normal human could match, and your strength could easily turn a concrete wall to powder, and make steel beams crumple like tin foil. What do you think a punch like that would do to flesh and bone.

"I know you would never mean to kill someone, but a single punch from you could liquefy someone's organs. Do you understand? Fighting for you would be very dangerous. Would you like some tea? Master should be here, soon… Ah, Master… Miss Seira, Regis… And Rael… It's good to see you again. How are your duties as Clan Leader going?"

"Um… Headmaster… Perhaps now is not the best time to discuss that… In… Present company?"

"Nonsense… Shinwoo already knows all about the Nobles. He had a slight run-in with one of the Elders… It wasn't violent, but he revealed more than could simply be explained away. So we explained everything, and due to his current situation, we didn't erase his memory."

"I… I see… What makes you think this exceptionally dimwitted human can keep our secret! This bigmouth will spill everything he knows first chance he gets! That's just how humans are!"

"I would never betray Seira's confidence. She made me promise that I wouldn't say anything."

"Something smells off about you, human! I can't put my finger on it, though… You're not quite a modified human… How long do we have before class starts, Headmaster?"

"Approximately thirty minutes."

"May I have a word with you for a moment, human?"

"Could you at least call me by name when you talk to me? I do have a name just like you, Rael…"

"Fine… May I please talk to you for a moment, Shinwoo…"

"Please make sure there is no violence in my school, gentlemen…" Frankenstein said, smiling, though his words were firm and dared them to even consider disobeying.

"Shinwoo… I don't know exactly what's going on. Seira refuses to elaborate. But you were told all about what we are, and about what the Headmaster really is… Seira walks in and sits down next to you… I'm beginning to suspect a romantic attachment between you two."

"Yes. We're going out. I asked Seira out about a week ago, at Suyi's party. She said you were unable to come because you were visiting your family. I'm sorry you couldn't come. We had a lot of fun."

"You stay away from Seira, human, for your own good! She's mine!"

"You can take that up with her. But I'm not going to stop dating her just because you have a problem with it… A problem you would probably share with half the male population of the school. Thank you for your concern about my own good, though…" Shinwoo said lightly. Rael growled at this, trying to keep his temper in check. He didn't want to be scolded by Frankenstein, and especially not by Seira or by Raizel.

So he wouldn't get into a fight. Rael moved quickly, almost seeming to disappear to normal vision. Shinwoo watched every step, though, tripped Rael as he was moving behind him, and locked his arms, twisting their positions, and holding him against the wall.

"Wow… For such a slim guy, you sure are strong. Please don't make me hurt you. I'd like to think that we could be friends in the right circumstances." Shinwoo said, feeling bad that communications broke down like this. Rael yelled some epithets at him.

"We will never be friends, freak! Modified humans like you are the reason Seira's father is dead! His death is _your fault!_ He was killed by your kind! He was fighting to protect humans! Humans are all the same! You're all willing to sell your collective souls for the tiniest bit of power! That's why humans disgust me so much!"

"I-I'm… I… I never knew Seira's father was killed by modified humans. She never told me…"

"The same with my brother! My elder brother was a brave man! He fought valiantly against modified humans, traitor Nobles and modified werewolves, and he was killed! The Union that modified you is responsible for so much pain in the world! They used dirty tricks to defeat my brother! How dare you even think of taking a romantic interest in Seira!?"

"Rael! Enough! Shinwoo did not choose to be modified. He ran afoul of the First Elder, who was a biouser. The First Elder, as far as I understand implanted him with something and turned him into a biouser as well, but in doing so, awoke him as… A natural modified human. Headmaster Lee said something about him being born to a genetically modified human. And since his father's genes were modified, that Shinwoo was born with modified genes.

"And my father's death was _not_ Shinwoo's fault. If you continue to attack him, Rael, I will be forced to take action against you." Seira said firmly. Rael sighed, defeated now, glaring hatefully at Shinwoo, but storming off, seeing that he couldn't win this one.

"I-I… I'm sorry, Seira… I never knew your father was killed by a modified human…"

"He wasn't. He was killed by a traitorous Ex-Clan Leader who worked for the Union. Remember when I said that Lukedonia was run by a limited monarchy? That's not strictly true. It is an absolute monarchy run by the Lord.

"The Lord, Ras, as you call her, is the queen. Raizel is what you would call the Internal Affairs Judge. The Clan Leaders act as advisors to the Lord, and the Noblesse, which is Raizel, stands alone. I… Did some research on human world governments, and tried to draw these parallels."

"I-I see… And the Clan Leaders… Do they have entire clans under them, or is it just you guys?"

"There are lower level Nobles. They are powerful, but not nearly as powerful as the Lord, the Noblesse and the Clan Leaders. The Noblesse have a sort of police force called the Central Order, and a military force called the Knights. All lower level Nobles are members of one of the Clans."

"How many clans are there?" Shinwoo asked.

"There used to be thirteen. However, six of the clan leaders defected. They betrayed the previous Lord, and fled Lukedonia rather than go into Eternal Sleep with him as they were supposed to. They recently resurfaced as members of the human Union. Several had been modified, and several were simply out for their own interests.

"It was tragic to see how far they'd fallen from their noble roots." Seira said sadly.

"Raizel doesn't blame them, even though they forced him to use up his limited life force. I'm sorry that Rael attacked you like that. He had no right."

"It's alright. I understand why he loves you. I can't blame him. You're smart, strong, beautiful, great at cooking… Just… great…" Shinwoo said, blushing deeply. Seira also blushed slightly.

"I only wish Rael could see why I like you so much." Seira said softly.

"It's sad that you had to learn about our world like this, but… My father always told me that everything happens for a reason. So, perhaps your infection, your awakening… Maybe it will all turn out to be for the best." Seira said, kissing Shinwoo softly on the lips. Shinwoo turned an even deeper shade of red, if that was possible, and found himself completely numb, walking back to class with her, hand in hand.

A/N: I know that length does not necessarily denote quality of a chapter. But I apologize that this chapter is so short. I generally make an effort to make a chapter at least four pages, if not five or more. But, I feel that I accomplished everything that I needed to in the three pages.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

"Hey, Seira… Listen, do you… Maybe want to go on a date this Saturday?" Shinwoo asked nervously. Seira looked at Shinwoo, seeming surprised for a moment. Then she smiled and nodded, saying nothing more. The two blushed and then went their separate ways. Shinwoo had to get home to do his homework. He had been told by Frankenstein to test his Biomass Manipulation over the week.

Frankenstein had told him that he could gain knowledge by touching people with the requisite knowledge. So he had already grabbed Ikhan's hand and copied his knowledge of hacking. He had tried it on several of his teachers. His head was fairly bursting with information on numerous subjects, now. He had tried to do it on Frankenstein when they met in his office.

But… Unfortunately, all he got was a bad burn on the palm of his hand that seemed to be leaking a foul energy that stunk to Shinwoo's sensitive nose, but nobody else could smell. He had used his Biomass Manipulation regeneration to extradite the healing process, but it was still very slow. The whole day had passed, and he hadn't fully healed yet. The palm of his right hand still burned and smelled bad.

Frankenstein told him that this was the result of his weapon. He had hoped never to use it on a human, especially Shinwoo, but that occasionally the weapon acted independently of Frankenstein's will, and that even his strong will was not always enough to control it. Furthermore, he advised Shinwoo not to try that again. At first, Shinwoo was afraid that Frankenstein was angry, but he assured the young Biouser that he wasn't, simply worried for his safety.

However, he had gotten almost the entirety of all his teachers' knowledge on their subjects, and now was heading home to do his homework with the confidence that came with having the level of knowledge required for a doctorate in some of the subjects. He was now fluent in English, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, French, Esperanto and German, and several fictional languages that Ikhan knew along with several computer languages that he didn't need.

Shinwoo couldn't think of any feasible use that he could have for Elvish, Dwarvish, Adunaic, and the three branches of Valarin, all languages invented by JRR Tolkien. But, it couldn't hurt to know them. So Shinwoo simply copied all of the knowledge that Ikhan possessed.

It seemed kind of like cheating. But he had been ordered by Frankenstein to use his powers over the week to test their limits, if any. He was told to run the same distance that he had run on Sunday, and to do 1,000 pull-ups with each hand, 1,000 pushups with each hand and 1,000 sit-ups every night. He was told to do it and time how long it took to do the regimen, record it and give the recording to Frankenstein on Sunday to see his improvement.

He expected there to be somewhat significant improvement over the course of the week. If there wasn't Frankenstein would double the amount that Shinwoo had to do the next week.

So Shinwoo did his running, practiced jumping to see how high he could jump as ordered by his master. He was ordered to do 500 jumps on each leg, then 500 on both legs. The right leg he could jump 10 feet in the air. The left, 8 feet. Both legs allowed him to jump 15 feet in the air. It was only Monday, though, so he continued his regimen, then went in to do his homework.

Finding that his homework was remarkably easy, now, he finished it in less than a half hour, and then looked at his watch It was only 1830h. He had a while to go before he had to go to bed. So he decided to head to Frankenstein's house. He could either get in some training, or if his friends were there, he could hang out with them.

When he got to Frankenstein's house, he rang the bell and waited for a minute before Raizel came to the door, opening it and allowing Shinwoo in without a second thought. Shinwoo walked in to see that the others weren't there. Rael, Regis, Seira, Raizel, Raskreia, the three modified humans, and Frankenstein were all there. Frankenstein smiled cheerfully.

"Shinwoo… Good to see you… I'm actually glad you came over. I have a new test for you. This Sunday, you will be fighting Rael instead of me. True, he's relatively young for a Noble. But he is very experienced with assassination techniques. His specialty is in speed and silence. If he wanted, he could likely kill a man ten times in ten different ways before they even noticed they were dead."

"What!? I have to help this filthy human train!?" Rael demanded angrily. Frankenstein smiled.

"I expected you would say that. But you haven't got an option. You are living under my roof, and you are required to pitch in where I request you to. Shinwoo, your objective is not to defeat Rael, but to grab him and hold him for long enough to copy his knowledge of fighting.

"Keep in mind that he will not make this easy. There are a million ways that he could break away from you."

"What!? Why should I allow this human access to my fighting skill!? The Kertia Clan invented assassination techniques!"

"Indeed, why should you? I will give you a weapon of my own invention. It is a blade, and you can use it in this fight. Don't worry, Shinwoo, your hand will grow back. Rael, you are not allowed to use your Soul Weapon in the fight. Even I would have trouble fighting against a completed Soul Weapon…" Frankenstein said.

"Now, sit down, please. Have some cookies. I just made a new batch a few minutes ago."

"Wow! Thanks! I'm actually really hungry… I…" Shinwoo began. Then he calmed down and sat down, eating the cookies, making sure to be as neat as possible. He had realized recently how grating it was on Principal Lee to see his house becoming a mess. And Shinwoo was sure that even if Frankenstein couldn't kill him, he could still make him wish he were dead.

"Shinwoo, I'm impressed… You aren't spilling any crumbs on the floor. What's the occasion?" Frankenstein asked. Shinwoo sighed.

"I… Don't know… I just don't want to be killed by you, really."

"Oh, Shinwoo! You wound me, ahahahahaha!" Frankenstein laughed. But Tao, Takeo and M-21 just sighed. Shinwoo was more on point than he even knew. Frankenstein had been known to get very annoyed about anyone messing up his house.

"I look forward to seeing how you do this Sunday when you fight Rael."

"And if I refuse, Headmaster?" Rael asked, still seething from the thought that he might have to give up his hard earned skill. He wouldn't make it easy. He would fight his hardest. But he also didn't know what kind of power Shinwoo really had. He had seen Shinwoo show some real skill in martial arts. But never knew just how extensive his ability was.

"Well, I can't make you do it, I suppose. I'll just have Regis fight him. You can just wash dishes that day." Frankenstein said. Rael growled. _Him_? The leader of the Kertia Clan? Lowered to washing dishes? Of course, his brother had done it willingly. Rael was still surprised that Rajak had consented to such a degrading task. But it was either that or risk having his skill stolen.

Of course, maybe if he taught that brat a lesson about true power, power that one could only be born with or never comprehend, maybe then he would stop chasing after Seira, who, far from deserving her, should not even have the right to look in her direction.

"I will train with him, Headmaster. I have the right to cut his hand off if he tries to grab me, right?" Rael asked. Frankenstein nodded.

"Then I consent to training this brat."

"Excellent. I'm sure that even if he doesn't manage to steal your skill, your talent will be invaluable in his improvement. I ask only because I will be busy this weekend with Master. I have to give him a… Checkup… He is becoming weaker even faster than before and that worries me."

"Of course, Headmaster, Noblesse-nim. I will pray for your good health."

"Ahahaha! Rai! You really have a fanclub here, don't you!?" Shinwoo asked loudly, laughing hysterically. Raizel blushed slightly. The others looked slightly surprised, except for Rael, who was outraged at Shinwoo's apparent disrespect.

"How dare you address the exalted Noblesse that way! He has put his life on the line for you more times than you know! You will treat him with the respect that he so rightly deserves from the likes of you! You…"

"Rael Kertia… Shinwoo is my friend. I neither ask nor require thanks of any kind from him."

"Y-yes, Noblesse-nim… My apologies…" Rael muttered, turning a light pink.

"Oh, my… Is it that late already?" Shinwoo asked, checking the clock, standing and kissing Seira on the lips before hurrying to put his shoes on.

"Thank you very much for having me this evening, Headmaster Lee…"

"Um… Y-you're… Welcome…" Frankenstein said, shocked at his sudden departure, and how politely he was behaving. Shinwoo would have to check his computer to see if he had any money of his own. He knew that his father wasn't exactly poor, and that the money was set to transfer to Shinwoo's ownership upon his father's death. But without a body, how could anyone prove that Seong was dead?

Shinwoo ran into his, or rather, Principal Lee's apartment and went onto the computer, going onto his banking site, logging in, and checking his banking and checking account. When he did, he was shocked that it said that he had 2,547,809,778 Won in his checking account. He went on another site and checked. That made him one of the wealthiest people in the world. He transferred 500 million to his savings account so that it could gain interest, and then yawned, looking at the clock.

It was almost 2200h. He threw on his pajamas, used his biomass manipulation to cause his teeth to clean themselves, absorbed some meat in the fridge that was starting to go bad, and used it to make his skin harder to pierce and his muscles stronger and himself faster. Frankenstein had given him a book that he had read cover to cover several times.

The book had said that although his body would modify itself, now that he had Biomass Manipulation to accommodate any eventuality. If he got burned by a match or a lighter, or even a flamethrower, he would probably never get burned again because his body would begin to fortify itself against such damage. However, he could also consciously will his body or brain to become stronger. He could imbue himself with just about any power imaginable.

"Over time, Principal Lee said, he could even become resistant and potentially immune to his Dark Spear. That meant that eventually, he would be completely indestructible. With that thought in mind, but also the knowledge that he would never be able to take part in a martial arts tournament again. It wouldn't be fair. He was already far beyond most martial artists. Now, he would be unstoppable.

The next day, Shinwoo woke up on time again, stretched, went out and did his morning run, running even further than he had the day before, did his pull-ups, pushups and sit-ups, and jumps, finding that in all of them, he was even more capable than the previous day. Recording his improvements, he ate a small breakfast of sausage and eggs and went to school.

When he got there, finding that he was once again early, he went to Principal Lee's office, knocking, heading in and sitting down with Frankenstein and Raizel.

"Shinwoo, I'm curious to see how you've improved. I know it's only been two days since your training, but I've never given anyone Biomass Manipulation before, or seen anyone with it. So I'm very curious to see how quickly it works."

Shinwoo nodded and handed over his notebook with the results. Frankenstein looked over the three days. His eyebrows went up slightly. Shinwoo had improved faster than he had expected. The first day, he took 30 minutes to do 16.7 kilometers. The second day, he did it in 20 minutes. The third day, he did 25 kilometers in 27 minutes.. All of his exercises had improved.

"I'm impressed, Shinwoo. You're improving rapidly. I expect you to be running 50 kilometers in 30 minutes by Sunday, now. Now that I see you're capable of it, it shouldn't be an issue. I also expect 5,000 of each on each hand and 5,000 sit-ups. Start recording how much you sleep, and try to wake up half an hour earlier. See how far you can go without sleep."

Rael seemed to be laughing, although he was trying to hide it. He just found it funny that Frankenstein was demanding all this from a simple human.

"I'll make you a bet, human…" Rael said with a nasty laugh.

"What's the bet, Rael?" Shinwoo asked.

"I bet you that you can't double Principal Lee's expectations by Sunday. If you do, I have to willingly let you copy my fighting skills."

"And if you win?"

"If I win, you have to break up with Seira and never even talk to her again…" Rael said with a mean smirk. Shinwoo thought for a moment. Seira seemed worried. And then, her worries were confirmed when Shinwoo accepted the dare.

"Deal… But don't you dare go back on your word."

"Shinwoo… Are you really willing to break up with me over a simple bet?" Seira asked, looking hurt by Shinwoo's willingness to take up the dare.

"Of course not. I'll win. There's no way I can lose. Biomass is anything biological. Rats are biological, and there are billions of them in the sewers. If I go down there, I can collect all the rats in one fell swoop, and get a lot of biomass."

"I… I'm just worried. I believe in you. But that's a lot of improvement to make in less than a week. But… I do trust you. I love you, Shinwoo…" Seira said, embracing Shinwoo and kissing him gently, standing up and joining hands with Shinwoo, going to class with him.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

"Hi, Seira… I… Brought some flowers for you…" Shinwoo muttered nervously, holding out some red roses that were the same blood red color as Seira's eyes. Seira blushed, and smelled the flowers, taking them and putting them in some cold water, then putting on her shoes. She was wearing a pale blue sleeveless silk gown that dipped just slightly, and a silver necklace that had a cross shaped pendant with a ruby in the center.

"You look beautiful tonight, Seira." Shinwoo gasped as she came into the foyer. Shinwoo could have sworn that his heart stopped. He could feel a blush crossing his face. Her gown hugged her curves perfectly. Seira blushed at his stare. Frankenstein had helped her make the gown herself. She had no outfits that were really suitable for a date. Most of her clothes were either for official business or for school.

Shinwoo had been busy over the week. His head was spinning. He had asked Seira on a date, she had accepted. But he had still had to do his exercise regime, and on Tuesday, he had been told to seek out readily available sources of biomass. One source that Shinwoo had considered was rats. Rats, and especially city rats were abundant, even in Seoul, and all it took was one drop of blood. Shinwoo, however, cut off his entire hand, and dropped it in the sewer.

Over the next three days, he felt hundreds of thousands of rats be infected and die, and be absorbed by the rats that survived. Then, on Friday, he commanded the rats that survived and absorbed other rats to report to him telepathically. He then absorbed them. There were only about 100 rats. But since they had absorbed the biomass of millions of other rats, there was a lot of biomass to be gathered. Now, he was rapidly enhancing his body and mind. He could process things almost faster than they could happen.

He had played a game of Chess against Ikhan and defeated him in twelve moves. Ikhan had been so stunned by this that he could hardly speak for the rest of the day. He tried to play a game of Chess against Principal Lee, but he still lost. But Frankenstein had commended him on how well he played, and said that he was at Grandmaster level already, and asked him where he got the biomass.

When Shinwoo had mentioned the rats and told him that he left a dozen female rats and a dozen male rats in the sewers to continue breeding, and that he sped up their reproductive system so that he would have an infinite and fast source of biomass, Frankenstein was very impressed.

Now, Shinwoo was on a date with the most beautiful woman in the world, feeling breathless. Frankenstein seemed to notice this and contacted him telepathically, seeming to induce almost immediate relief in Shinwoo's mind.

 _Calm down, Shinwoo… Just stay calm and take the date one step at a time._

 _"Right, Headmaster."_ Shinwoo said in his head, taking Seira's hand. Rael had been forced to go back to Lukedonia to take care of matters involving the rest of the Clan Leaders. Regis's grandfather was still a bit weak from his fight with the traitorous clan leaders and werewolves. Regis had gone with him, and so it was really just Raskreia, Raizel, the RK-3, Seira and Frankenstein.

"Where are we going tonight, Shinwoo?"

"Um… Well… I-I thought maybe we could go to dinner… There's a really great restaurant downtown called Tiziano's… It's an Italian restaurant. My dad took me there when I was much younger."

"It sounds good. What kind of food do Italian people eat?" Seira asked cluelessly, looking at Shinwoo with her gorgeous blood red eyes.

"Well… A lot of cheese, a lot of pasta, a lot of sauce… Many Italian meals have meat… Either Lamb or beef… Oh, and wine… But people our age can't drink wine… We can't drink until we're 20. That's a large part of the Italian diet."

"It sounds delicious. But, I'm around 220 years old. I see no issue with me drinking."

"Yes… That's true. But you don't look any older than sixteen. Trust me, no matter how beautiful you are, no waiter is going to serve you wine."

"I understand." Seira said simply, leading Shinwoo out of the house, letting him lead the way to the restaurant.

"Shinwoo… How nice to see you… It's been a long time… How's your dad doing?" The maitre d' asked in a heavy Italian asked.

"Hey, Marco! How's it going? My dad is always away on business, still…"

"Ah, well… Busy, busy, right? Ooh, your date, she is molto bellissima…"

"Oh, grazie. Lei è così splendida, non è vero?" (Oh, thank you. She's so goregous, isn't she?"

"Non sapevo che si parlava italiano."

"Oh, si. Ho imparto di recente." (Oh, yes. I learned recently). Shinwoo replied.

"Well, let me show you to your seat." Marco said, taking the two to their table, and handing them their menus and pouring some water for them.

"Enjoy…" Marco said, leaving the two alone. Seira had never really been to a restaurant before. She had always either eaten with the other Clan Leaders, or in Frankenstein's house.

Frankenstein had gone over proper etiquette in a restaurant both for the man and for the woman. He told her that he had gone over it extensively with Shinwoo as well so that he did not make a fool of himself.

Seira started reading her menu. Although written Korean was still a little bit difficult for her, she managed to figure it out based on the words that she did know, and decided on eggplant pamesan.

Shinwoo read through the entire menu in less than thirty seconds, and chose fettuccine alfredo. The waitress bowed politely and took their menus, refilling their waters and bringing the order to the kitchen.

 _I think that waitress was checking you out, Seira. Her dopamine levels and neurotransmitters were way elevated._

 _"Shinwoo… Are you saying that a woman was attracted to me?"_

 _Is that so hard to believe? You're beautiful, you project strength, serenity, intelligence, you're confident. Why shouldn't a woman be attracted to you assuming she's of the right sexual orientation._

 _"Sexual orientation? You mean gay or straight?"_

 _Come on, don't tell me you don't have any gay Nobles back where you come from?_ Shinwoo asked. Seira shrugged.

 _"We tend to be largely independent of each other in that regard. Even if a Noble was gay, they wouldn't feel any need to announce it. They might act on their urges or not, depending on their own desires and if they find another Noble of the same proclivities. We don't usually interfere in each other's affairs._

 _"One female clan leader was dating and sleeping with a female member of the Ludis Clan for twenty years before anyone found out about it."_

 _You mean you're that openminded? That's really cool. I'd like to meet some of these Nobles sometime._

 _"I will take you if you wish. But you do have to promise that you won't ask any insensitive questions if I do."_

 _I'll promise not to say a word if that will make you feel better._ Shinwoo replied. The waitress came back a few minutes later and put their food on the table, dropping a piece of paper on the table with Seira's name on it.

Seira opened the piece of paper. It was written in beautiful cursive in Seira's native language.

 _Dear Lady Loyard,_

 _I know who you are. Don't worry. I have no intention of outing you amongst your friends. Here is not a good place to speak. I get off after I finish waiting on your table. Please do me the honor of granting me an audience with you._

 _Thank you._

 _Artemis Lunete_

Shinwoo began to eat, taking his time, trying not to finish before Seira. Seira, though, seemed wholly unconcerned with her dinner. She ate small bites occasionally, but overall, was more interested in how this person knew who she was.

 _Shinwoo, I sense that you have become monumentally more powerful over the past few days. How is this?_ Seira asked. Shinwoo thought for a moment, taking a bite of his pasta.

 _"Seira, have you ever seen a rat? It's a rodent, considered vermin by most, the domesticated type is usually around 33 centimeters, whereas a wild rat, a city rat can be as large as 1.2 meters in length._

 _"It's believed that there are around 16.8 million rats in New York City's sewers. That's… An uncommonly high amount. But even in the Seoul sewers, I estimate that there are probably around 9 million. Well, I cut my hand off, and dropped it in the sewer. Then I waited while the one rat infected all the other rats._

 _"Those that died were absorbed by the ones that lived… Is this too much for you, Seira? I'm sorry…"_

 _Do not worry, Shinwoo… I have seen and heard much worse from members of the Union. Please continue._

 _"Okay… Well, yesterday, I had the hundred or so rats come to me at about midnight and I absorbed most of them. I left 24 rats, though in the sewers. 12 of either gender and tinkered with their reproductive cycle to speed it up. Now, I have a rapid and unending source of biomass."_

 _That is quite ingenious, Shinwoo. Are you not worried that it might be unethical, though?_ Seira asked. Shinwoo shook his head, taking another bite. Even as he spoke telepathically with Seira.

 _"I'm not worried. Humans hate rats. They spread disease and are a general nuisance. They infest dirty areas, and eat human food whereever they can find it. Rats are exterminated with poison by humans. I'm merely expediting the process. If they knew what I did, they'd celebrate me._

 _"I'd be like the Pied Piper of Hamelin, except I wouldn't kidnap all their children."_ Shinwoo finished with a mild laugh, finishing off his fettuccine, and setting his fork down, drinking some more water, and waiting patiently for Seira to finish. When she did, the waitress came over and smiled politely, handing them the bill. Seira protested for a moment that Shinwoo wanted to pay the entire bill.

Then, she remembered back to what Frankenstein said. The man was traditionally supposed to pay the bill, although in modern day, 'going Dutch' wasn't uncommon. There were a lot of complex social issues involved with her and Shinwoo's relationship. She was not only the elder, but also of much higher standing. However, he invited her to go on the date.

Again, though, amongst the 'younger generation', it wasn't uncommon for people to alternate paying the bill, or split it, or for one to pay for dinner and the other to pay for drinks. He ultimately came to the conclusion that they would figure it out on their own. Shinwoo refused to let her pay the bill, though. Frankenstein had lent her some money to pay if she needed to, saying that she could pay him back by sparring with Shinwoo in the future.

In other words, he was just giving it to her, since she already wanted to spar with Shinwoo to see how he was doing. When Shinwoo had paid, the two went out and waited for Artemis, who came out about fifteen minutes later.

"S-sorry I'm so late… I know I said…"

"Do not worrry about it, Artemis Lunete. What was it that you wished to discuss with us?"

"Well… I wanted to discuss something with you, Seira J. Loyard. My Lord has commanded me to get you to persuade Shinwoo to join the Union at the behest of the First Elder. I-it was really only coincidence that I'm working at the restaurant you went to. But I have to say I tried."

"Well, you've tried. And I've refused. You can attack me now if you have to. You can try to kill me, or whatever. But I'll never betray Seira like that."

"I-I don't want you to join the Union, though, Han Shinwoo…" Artemis said.

"My Lord, the Lord of the Werewolves said that you'd be more likely to trust someone closer to your apparent age. I'm actually around 300 years old. But I'm young for a Werewolf."

"I see… I feel like I've seen you before… Are you a student at Yeran High School?"

"Yes! I'm in your gym class, your math class, and your Korean Literature class. You seem to always be sleeping through your classes."

"Hmm… That sounds like me. Well, you've tried. You've failed. Tell me, what would the Lord do to you if he finds out that you've failed?" Shinwoo asked.

"I would be punished most severely, and would be shamed before my Werewolf bretheren."

"Then… Why don't you want me to join the Union?"

"Because you seem happy. I was forced to join the Union by my mother and father, who insisted that I serve the Lord to the best of my ability. I didn't have a choice. You do. I would never want that choice taken away from you."

"You were checking Seira out earlier. Were you just trying to get her attention? Tell her that something was up?"

"O-oh! No… I-I've just… Never met a Noble before, and she was so beautiful… I didn't think I was attracted to women. I've had a few boyfriends in the past. But she was just so beautiful and elegant that I ended up falling… Snout over claws."

"Snout over… Do you mean head over heels?" Shinwoo asked with a raised eyebrow. Artemis nodded.

"That is what you humans would call it. Head over heels. But I'm a Werewolf. We've called it snout over claws for a long time. Love at first bite."

"Sight."

"What?"

"Love at first _sight_."

"Again, Shinwoo…" Artemis growled, her eyes flashing a golden color in irritation. "Your human customs are different from ours. When a Werewolf falls in love with another Werewolf, they bite that Werewolf lightly to show their affection. The euphemism thus makes sense. Don't correct me again, or you may find me biting you…"

"Sorry, sorry…"

"It's quite alright. I understand that humans, short lived as they are, are petulant, arrogant and intolerant. I don't hold it against you." Artemis said proudly.

"You're wrong, Artemis… Some humans are exactly as you described…" Seira said softly.

"However, the people that I have met, that I live around, are very kind and understanding. They never judge me because of my unusual mannerisms. They do everything they can to include me. I would thank you not to insult my boyfriend."

"Sorry, Lady Loyard… I have to go. I must report to my Lord. I will give him your answer. He won't be pleased. But I am." Artemis said, looking like she was already about to cry. She seemed terrified to see the Lord.

"Wait! Artemis… Why don't you come with us? I'm sure that Principal Lee would let you stay for a little while. It's mostly men in the house. But Seira and the Lord of the Nobles live there. So you wouldn't be all alone. It wouldn't be a complete mast fest."

"Mast fest? I'm afraid I don't understand."

Seira walked over to her and whispered in her ear, causing Artemis to turn a deep crimson color.

"W-what!? I-I could never intrude on your Headmaster's hospitality like that!"

"I'm certain that he could find some work for you to do in exchange for staying there!" Shinwoo laughed.

"That man has clan leaders and modified humans doing dishes, cleaning floors and taking out the trash. He's certainly got no shortage of work to do around the house."

"He's… Coerced the clan leaders of Lukedonia into doing housework? This man must be very frightening if he can force the clan leaders to lower themselves to the position of slaves."

"He is only frightening when those in his care, or his belongings are threatened. Otherwise, he is very kind. I'm sure if you explain to him, he would give you a chance. We have a fledgling werewolf in the household. I'm sure that he could benefit from your expertise in fighting." Seira said, her voice barely above a whisper, but still clearly heard even above the talking and traffic of late night Seoul.

"I shall, then. I thank you for giving me even a chance to meet this man. I promise I shall put my best paw forward." Artemis said with a bow.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

"You… Brought a new friend home with you?" Frankenstein asked, his eyebrow twitching. He was never going to get to have time with just his master. His master's friends, and all those other people would always just keep showing up and disturbing them.

"My apologies, Headmaster… I will leave immediately. I will not tell anyone about you, I swear." Artemis said quietly.

"No, not at all… Please, join us for dessert. You said your last name was Lunete? I seem to recall a Werewolf family that was very close to the Lord with that name. Would you happen to be the heir to that Lunete family?"

"Yes, sir… I'm actually Fifth Elder Lunark's second cousin Her grandfather is my grandfather's brother. That's part of why I was pressured into working for the Union. I-I'm sorry I ruined your date, Lady Seira…"

"First of all, there is no need to address me as Lady. I appreciate the courtesy, but I don't hold any rank for you. Second, our date was ending soon anyhow…" Seira lied. She was hoping that they could have walked around for a little while. It didn't matter to her what they did. She just wanted to spend time with Shinwoo. Artemis sighed with relief.

"Do your mother and father know about your affiliation with the Union?"

"My father does, sir. My mother died in childbirth. It was seen as a good sign. They thought that I would grow up to be some kind of avatar of destruction. I'm already much stronger than the average Werewolf of my age, but my father was hoping for more. He plans to have me modified. I think he's hoping to get me ready to fight a Werewolf named Muzaka. Does the name sound familiar?"

Raizel sat up straighter, looking at her, shocked.

"Muzaka was… One of my best friends. He went mad when his daughter was killed. He believes that humans did it, but in reality, Maduke killed her. He sent some of his followers to kill her and make it look like humans did it. He wanted to take Muzaka's place as the leader of the clan." Raizel said quietly, surprising Shinwoo with how verbose he was being.

"A-are you serious? The Lord said that any Werewolf who encounters Muzaka is to either try to kill him or avoid him completely if they believe themselves unable. I actually think that's simply code for 'kill him or die trying.' But, as I have n-no proof… H-have you told Muzaka that this is the case… Um… I'm sorry, I didn't get your name."

"By this country's language, my name is Cadis Etrama Di Raizel…" Raizel said stoically in a near whisper.

"Um… Which is your first name and which is your last name?"

Raizel looked up at her with his distant, but piercing gaze that made Artemis feel like he was looking into her very soul. It was slightly uncomfortable to have him looking at her like that.

"It is all my first and my last name." He said simply.

"I-is there anything that I can call you for short? I-is it alright if I just call you Raizel?

"You can call me whatever you like."

"Do you wish to stay here, Artemis?" Frankenstein asked. Artemis nodded. She was frankly scared to go back now, having failed her mission. She would surely be punished severely. She was curious about what kind of modifications the Union had in mind for her. But she was terrified that she would end up just a used up, failed experiment and be 'euthanized'.

"Y-yes, sir."

"Excellent. I'm certain that I can find work that you can do. Dear, dear… My household is getting so big. How strong a fighter are you, Artemis? Does your name come with a reputation?"

"Yes, sir… I prefer to hunt my enemies rather than fight them head on. But I have been trained in eight different martial art styles, so I could do melee combat if necessary."

"Excellent… My, Shinwoo… You'll have so many sparring partners. We could have one each day, and have enough for almost two weeks without you fighting the same person twice, ahahahahaha!" Frankenstein laughed. The rest of the group groaned.

This meant that they'd be putting in a lot of extra work. Tao had overheard Shinwoo talking to Frankenstein about his plan with the rats. Supposedly, he wasn't even done collecting rats to absorb and to send back out as Biorats. He had only collected the rats in Seoul. He could do that with every rat in the country, and in fact, he could do that with tons of different types of vermin. Rats, mice, rabbits, pigeons, and other such creatures lived in abundance all around the world.

All Shinwoo would need to do was infect a number of them commensurate with how fast he wanted it to spread, and voila, he would have a ready supply of biomass collectors and suppliers no matter where he went. Any biocreatures that he created could be programmed to obey him, and they would come running to him when he called, even if they were being called to be absorbed.

His plan was frankly genius… Which seemed odd considering that they were talking about Shinwoo, who was previously all muscle and no brain. But he had really thought his way into excellent circumstances. Why, even feral animals could be "kept" as biomass collectors and suppliers.

Of course, that meant that even with just the biomass that he had collected by that day, he would be a force to be reckoned with, even for someone as skilled and fast as Rael, whom the RK-4 had never once beaten. Frankenstein had beaten Rael once on his own. But that wasn't because of superior speed, but superior technique, power and strategy… And of course the Dark Spear.

He had the suspicion, of course, that he and the rest of the RK would be called upon to spar with Shinwoo, probably on an increasingly regular basis, based on what Frankenstein had said about being able to spar a new person each day.

"Shinwoo, how would you like to come over here every day to spar? You know of the large dojo in the basement. We have almost a two week supply of partners for you. Some days, we can have you fighting more than one partner, some days, you can go one on one. You can get a feel for many different kinds of combat. You will improve your control of your Biomass Manipulation as well. It's a win-win, right?"

"Sounds great! But… I don't know if I could hit a woman…" Shinwoo said uncertainly, looking at Artemis. Artemis laughed, though.

"Try hitting me if you think you can, human… Modified human or not, you still can't add up to the level of power that we Werewolves can bring to bear."

"That's not the point. It's wrong to hit a woman… It's dishonorable…"

"Okay, sir, can I take him downstairs right now? I'll show him how wrong he is! This guy is really starting to piss me off! Dishonorable my ass…" Artemis muttered angrily, dragging Shinwoo in the direction that Frankenstein indicated.

"I'll let you have the first move if you like. Come at me whenever you're ready."

"But… I…"

"Fine… I'll go first." Artemis snapped, moving quickly. Shinwoo watched her movements and leapt in the air, catapulting off her head and spinning, kicking her just hard enough to send her tumbling.

"Hmm… Impressive speed. Okay, this will be fun." Shinwoo said, getting into a fighting stance and blocking Artemis's first attack, kicking at her solar plexus and knocking the wind out of her.

The female Werewolf gasped and went partially into her Werewolf form, only transforming her hand into a claw, slashing at Shinwoo. Not having expected this, Shinwoo had his chest slashed by the claws, leaving shallow cuts. Shinwoo merely dodged for the next thirty seconds or so, though, and they began to heal. He could see that his Biomass Manipulation was really improving his body, since he had felt the full force of that claw attack.

Any normal person would have been rent wide open. But Shinwoo's flesh was much tougher, and Artemis seemed shocked by this. His wounds had been completely healed. Suddenly, Shinwoo punched Artemis in the stomach and sent her flying.

"Oh, geez! I'm really sorry! I never meant to hit you that hard! My new powers are still hard to control!"

"It's fine. Only my ego is bruised." Artemis said, standing up and brushing herself off. She looked at Shinwoo with a smirk.

"You know, you're not half bad looking. You're handsome, strong and a nice person. I can see why Seira likes you. I could fall for someone like you, myself."

"Sorry… I'm dating Seira. I wouldn't betray her for anything."

"Well… Can't say I didn't try." Artemis said dismissively, transforming into her werewolf form and letting out a blood curdling roar. Even Shinwoo found himself shivering from its power. The entire room began to shake slightly. Even upstairs, everyone could feel the vibrations.

They weren't as powerful as Muzaka's, or even as powerful as Lunark's, but she was clearly quite powerful, especially for someone who was only 300 years old. She had clearly been trained extensively. She howled and moved in a lithe, graceful manner, going down onto all fours, jumping up onto the ceiling and leaping down, tackling Shinwoo and slashing at his chest, biting at his throat as she was trained to do. She had been trained to kill as quickly as she could, rather than give them a chance to possibly win.

Shinwoo prodded his finger into her side and let out a huge electric shock, frying her Central Nervous System, giving him ample opportunity to push her off and send her flying into the wall. After a few minutes, Artemis jumped to her feet and slashed at Shinwoo again. Frankenstein had been watching this all on closed circuit television and saw that neither of them were likely to win anytime soon. Shinwoo was unwilling to make a truly decisive strike, and Artemis couldn't stop his rapid regeneration.

Furthermore, his strength, endurance and near invulnerability to physical attacks was impressive. Frankenstein wasn't quite sure how he did it. He knew that the virus modified the body on its own based on appropriate stimuli. If he burned himself enough, his body would become resistant to fire. The same with acid, physical assault, etcetera.

However, due to the virus itself being conscious in some ways, it could obey the Biouser. It could modify itself actively based on the user's desires. Thus, Frankenstein thought, Shinwoo must have put a lot of thought into all of this to be so powerful so quickly.

"Enough. I can see that you're fairly evenly matched. Shinwoo, you've improved drastically since last week. What improvements did you make on yourself? I want you to start keeping a log of all active enhancements you make on your body including when you absorb biomass and what the source of the biomass is. Be as comprehensive as you can."

"Sure, Principal Lee… Can I go home for the night?" Shinwoo asked. He had worn a shirt and tie for the date, and fighting in that was difficult. He had some experience fighting in dress clothes because of having to fight enemies in his uniform. But it still wasn't easy.

"Of course, Shinwoo. One more thing. I want you to begin meditating at night. Start with twenty minutes a day. Try to get to as long as possible. I want you to be as in tune with your body as possible. Meditation helps with that. I've advised Tao and Takeo to meditate as well. They need to get control of their powers."

"Really? Are their powers as unstable as yours?" Shinwoo asked. Frankenstein laughed.

"Ahahahaha! Why would you say that? My Dark Spear is just a little bit temperamental. She needs a firm hand. Nothing one with the willpower to command it can't do. I suppose it's best if you go home, now. Make sure you do what I told you to do. Not to do so would make me… Displeased…"

"Y-yes, Principal Lee…" Shinwoo said, offering Artemis his hand and pulling her up, bowing politely and leaving. As he walked to the door, he took a slight side track and embraced Seira, kissing her tenderly on the lips, and whispering that he loved her, looking straight into those crimson orbs that he could stare at forever.

Finally, it seemed to be getting awkward, though, for everyone else as well as for Seira, so he kissed her once more and put his shoes on and left.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

That night, he did everything that Frankenstein demanded of him, making a register of all the biomass he had absorbed in the past week, including the rats, garbage from cans that he had come by that had discarded foodstuffs in it, and so on. Shinwoo had to get creative in terms of Biomass.

There was certainly plenty of Biomass, but if he wanted to fly under the radar, there were only so many ways to do it. One was to almost completely eliminate the city's rat problem. The city would most likely be so happy that the rats were gone that they wouldn't investigate too much into it. The same could be said of the trash. With food trash down, the city would be cleaner… Naturally. Wow… Shinwoo thought… That was a dumb statement even for him.

The next day, he showed up bright and early to Frankenstein's house. He ran the same course, but was told to run it at top speed in as little time as possible… But every minute over 25 that he went, he would have to do 1500 right pushups, 1500 left and so on. And so, Shinwoo set off at breakneck speeds, finishing the course in 20 minutes. Frankenstein stopped the stopwatch, smiling, impressed.

"Very well done, Shinwoo… Well, because you finished five minutes early, I'll give you a choice of whom you do combat with… After you do your exercise regime, of course. Today it will be 15,000 of each. You know what I mean. Given your drastic improvement, I'm certain you can handle it… Ahahahahaha!" Frankenstein laughed. Shinwoo thought for a moment.

"Keep in mind that I am not an option, and nor is Master. Anyone else you are free to fight, though."

"Well… Ras is the Lord of the Nobles, right? She's really powerful, right?"

"Correct, but Master is going into an experiment today. He needs to be calm and collected. You wouldn't want him to be worried over his girlfriend while I'm trying to operate, would you?" Frankenstein asked.

He wasn't threatening him. He was legitimately asking. Had Shinwoo said that he wanted to spar Raskreia, Frankenstein would have asked Raskreia to do so, and she would of course consented, being an honorable person, and knowing that she was a guest in Frankenstein's home. However, Shinwoo nodded.

"You're right. I wouldn't want Rai to be upset. Hmm… Hmmm… I'll fight… M-21… He's okay, right?"

"Of course. In fact, he's an excellent choice. He has good combat experience, fighting against me and many Union officials in real combat. Not many have such experience. I will wake him up."

"Oh, I-I don't want to wake him… I'll fight someone who's already awake."

"Nonsense. He has to wake up soon, anyhow. The house needs to be cleaned. Sundays, and Wednesdays are our cleaning days.

"I'll just have him fight today instead. He'll get out of cleaning, and you'll get an excellent fight. He is quite experienced. Come in. Have you eaten already?"

"Yes. A small breakfast… I'm not that hungry these days. I eat occasionally, maybe one medium sized meal a day at most. But…"

"No need to say more. Your body is already adapting very well. Soon, I suspect that your body will produce its own nutrition… Well, I would actually be grateful if you would allow me to do some tests on your body… After training, of course. Training should take most of the morning. I have written out what I expect you to do in the right order. The training room has been set up to automatically time you for that.

Go down to the training room and get started. This time you are going three floors lower. The room will be much bigger and have obstacles set up in it. That is intentional and is meant as a rudimentary way to train people to fight in unexpected terrain. You'll understand when you see. M-21 and Tao will be down soon."

"Yes, Principal Lee…" Shinwoo said, going down to the room he specified. When he got there, he saw that it was huge. Not only was it just 'larger', it was hundreds of times the size of the previous room. If Shinwoo's calculations were correct, the old one was at least sixty meters by sixty meters. This was big enough to be its own small park. The floor and indeed the walls were tiled and looked very Spartan in design.

Shinwoo couldn't help but think that could change quickly if needbe. Shinwoo walked into the middle of the room and suddenly, bars and weights appeared from the walls and floor. Shinwoo jumped up on the bars and started doing his exercises. Fifteen thousand. That was what Frankenstein demanded… With each arm. That was a lot compared to last week, but he pushed himself and by the end, he dropped down from the bars and started doing pushups and sit-ups as well.

Of course, by this time, M-21 and Tao were already in the room, waiting for Shinwoo to finish.

"Hey, Ajussi, Oppa… How's it going… Sorry you had to wake up for me."

"Don't worry about it. M-21 isn't much of a morning person. But he'd say he's happy to help if he wasn't so cranky. I've read the manual about this room from cover to cover. It should be pretty easy to use the system.

"It works on five random number generators that activate based on another random number generator at a random interval based on a seventh random number generator. The point is…" Tao said, seeing the confused looks on M-21's and Shinwoo's faces, "That you can't count on a set time period for each type of terrain. On the macroscale, the machine is a terrain generator. On the microscale, it's a random number generator.

"The number generator tells the machine what kind of terrain to produce and at what time interval. It could only have one type of terrain for as short as one minute, or as long as an hour or more. There's no way to time it accurately, even with lightning fast computing skills. Even I wouldn't be able to break it down into simple timing. It's just too convoluted to do that.

"As such, it took the boss thirty years to put this whole room together properly. Fortunately for us, he says, it has a certain level of self-repair and biomechanical regeneration. So if the room is damaged or even destroyed, it can repair itself over time.

"However he says that it would not be in our best interest to allow that to happen. Let's begin, before I get a headache trying to understand it better." Tao said, sighing and typing in a command to the computer of the room. The room began to whirr and they began to feel a breeze, whipping up into a ferocious wind that even buffetted Shinwoo and M-21, despite their great fortitude.

"DID I MENTION THAT THIS WAS ALSO A WEATHER GENERATOR!? IT CAN GENERATE UP TO TEN THOUSAND DIFFERENT WEATHER PATTERNS!" Tao shouted over the gale force winds.

"GEE! YOU MUST'VE FORGOTTEN!" Shinwoo roared. Tao set the timer for thirty minutes, and went into the observation chamber as hills, cliffs and chasm formed in the room.

The two fighters squared off, and M-21 let out a blood chilling roare as his claws came out, and he leapt across the chasm, slashing at Shinwoo, seeming to disappear as soon as he reached melee distance though, and reappearing behind Shinwoo, prepared to make a sneak attack. However, Shinwoo ducked, seeming to move into M-21's attack.

However, when M-21 looked up, he noticed why. Suddenly, a giant rock flew at M-21 barely missing him as the Werewolf just managed to dodge it. Shinwoo took this opportunity to sweep M-21, finding his legs like steel pipes. He managed to move M-21 slightly, but failed to actually knock him over.

Almost as soon as the rock crashed into a tree, crushing it, the winds stopped, and it began to get foggy in the room. Fog rolled in off of the river in the middle of the chasm, and filled the entire room. Shinwoo looked around. The fog wasn't thick yet, but would be soon. If he didn't get some hits in by then, it would become harder to do.

So Shinwoo closed his eyes and waited. He had nowhere to go. He breathed in, and concentrated, focusing his range of sense outward. Suddnly, he could "see" everything within thirty feet of him, or rather feel it. There was a mosquito in the room that was making a racket. That needed to go. A Biomass tendril shot out and absorbed the mosquito. It didn't give him any real biomass. But it got rid of a distraction.

After a few minutes, he felt something move through his line of perception, and he counted down, then twisted, kicking M-21 in the stomach.

"Hey, M-21. Good to see you." Shinwoo said, bowing politely to M-21, who growled, transforming completely into his Werewolf form. In the next moment, Shinwoo found his stomach rent open, and the mist rapidly disappearing around him in favor of a city environment.

Now, it was raining, and everything was very slick due to oil on the roads and there were obstacles everywhere. M-21 had gotten quite used to city combat. He slashed at Shinwoo, leaving slight cuts on him, but not doing any serious damage. Shinwoo grabbed M-21 and threw him in the air, kicking him in the chest and sending him into a building, completely destroying it. Both men flinched, thinking about what Frankenstein would do when he found out.

Shinwoo had a plan, though. If he couldn't beat him, he could at least take his fighting knowledge. So he stood there, at the ready, and waited. M-21 was nowhere in sight at the moment. But he was sure that the Werewolf would be out soon. So he extended his senses as far as he could, breathing in, the perception retracting slightly, then breathing out, the perception going out further.

Soon enough, he felt a flicker and grabbed out to his left, which was once his blindspot, and felt his hand close on M-21's wrist. Some Biomass tendrils extended, piercing his flesh slightly and copying his knowledge. As soon as he felt the last of the knowledge flow into him, he twisted and kicked M-21 hard in the chest, cracking several of his ribs and sending him flying.

Not wanting to destroy any more of the room, though, Shinwoo grabbed him with a tendril, and reeled him back in, and gripped M-21's arm. M-21, as he was ordered by Frankenstein, utilized his claws to slash over and over at Shinwoo's arm, nearly severing it several times, but always falling just short due to the fact that his arm was so dense. Therefore, it regenerated, and Shinwoo barely noticed.

Finally, Shinwoo smirked and used a move very similar to what M-21 used, seeming to disappear behind the Werewolf, and slashed at him with elongated fingernails, leaving a series of deep gashes on his back. Suddenly, though, the buildings moved back down into the floor and the wind and rain stopped. Tao called over the loudspeaker that the round was over, and that Frankenstein had said that Shinwoo had to go on an 80 kilometer run around the city and the immediate outskirts.

He said that the RK-5 had set up landmarks around the area so that Shinwoo would know exactly where to go. Shinwoo sighed, and started to walk out of the room.

"Oh, Shinwoo…" Tao called cheerfully. Shinwoo stopped, nervous now.

"Y-yeah?" He asked.

"The boss says you have to do the run in thirty minutes. He really likes that time limit, doesn't he? Ahahaha!"

"Fine, fine. What happens if I don't make the thirty minute time limit?"

"15,000 push-ups with each hand and so on for each minute you go past the time limit. He says you know what to do. Now go. The timer starts…"

Shinwoo began running, making biomass shoes on his way out, and he heard telepathically "NOW!"

Shinwoo was off.

"Good morning, Master… I'm pleased that you are accepting this modification. I have done 500,000,000 more simulations to make sure that your body will safely synchronize with it."

"And?"

"The simulations, even based on your current level of health were 99.994% successful. The 30,000 tests that were failures were the margin of error. It concerns me slightly that the margin of error was so high. If Master were to die, not only would the Nobles never forgive me, I never forgive myself for using faulty science… I am…"

"Frankenstein…" Raizel said simply.

"Ah… Yes?"

"You're rambling…"

"Yes, Master…"

"Do not doubt yourself. You have always served me well. I am not afraid. You should not be either."

"Frankenstein! I command you to stop this immediately!" Came a demanding voice from the doorway. Suddenly, Raskreia ran into the lab, glaring furiously at Frankenstein, her hair still messy from having just woken up, and run downstairs. Seira walked through, looking slightly guilty.

"I apologize, Headmaster… The Lord ordered me to tell her where Lord Raizel was. I could not refuse her."

"I understand, Seira… May I ask what is upsetting you, Lord?"

"I forbid you from modifying the Noblesse!" Raskreia demanded, tears beginning to sting her eyes, not only at the thought that Frankenstein would do something so despicable, but also that Raizel would accept such a thing.

"Then you would rather that he die?" Frankenstein asked, trying to keep his temper in check. Who was this little girl to tell him what to do? Frankenstein wasn't a Noble, and he wasn't beholden to anyone save his Master, much less her.

"Because that is what will happen if we do not proceed with this modification. I can tell you with certainty that 499,970,000 of the 500,000,000 simulations I ran were successful.

"That means that there is almost no chance of failure."

"What happened in the 30,000 failures? That is… A large number of failures…"

"It isn't when you consider that it represented only 0.006% of the simulations. That is called the margin of error. Every experiment has a margin of error, and it represents the inherent scientific uncertainty in any given situation. 0.006% is below typical statistical significance.

"So it is up to you what you do with the rest of your day. But do not bother me, or master. I specifically requested that Shinwoo not ask to spar with you, Lord because I did not want Master to worry. So Miss Seira, Lord, please leave… Now… Or you may invoke my… Displeasure…" Frankenstein said, a dark aura beginning to rise off of him.

"I swear, if anything bad happens to him, I shall have you executed for a traitor against the Nobles!" Raskreia snarled angrily. Even Frankenstein was surprised by her vitriol. She was usually so calm and collected. This represented something far out of the ordinary.

"I assure you, Lord, if something bad happens to Master, your punishment could not possibly equal my own guilt over it.

"Therefore, you can be assured that I will take every possible precaution in the operation. Now please, I need to be calm and centered before I perform such a complex procedure. And you have set me off my center. Allow me time to collect myself."

"Would it be overly distracting if I remained?" Raskreia asked, still seeming worried. Frankenstein looked to Raizel, who shook his head once.

"I apologize. But I really must ask you to leave for now. I will have Master come see you as soon as possible after the procedure. Why don't you go out and enjoy the town. It is a beautiful day. There's no reason to not enjoy the day."

"O-okay…" Raskreia said uncertainly, striding out of the room trying to keep her head held high. She was worried, though. There was nothing Frankenstein could say that would allay her fears that Raizel would either die or, even worse, turn into a monster like Roktis and Ignes had.

Frankenstein sighed, apologizing to Raizel, locking the door and sitting on a chair, making a cup of tea, and taking a deep breath to center his mind before he performed the most important, and the most terrifying experiment he had ever done in his life. Regardless of whether it succeeded or not, it would change everything. Nothing would ever be the same.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

"I apologize for the delay, Master… Let us proceed… First, allow me to make you comfortable. I have a sedative that will put a strong adult male to sleep for two days before it passes their system. It essentially slows the blood flow, causing the drug to have more staying power. However, for you, I suspect it will only knock you out for 6-8 hours. That should be enough time, though I may have to apply more than one dose if any complications arise, and I require more time."

"I understand. I grant you permission to do what is required."

"Yes, Master…" Frankenstein says reverently, showing Raizel a needle, rolling up his sleeve and injecting him. Raizel felt his head spinning slowly, and his vision blurring, and finally, his eyes closed. Frankenstein took a deep breath. He was really betting his entire career as a genetic modification expert. If he failed in this, he would never live it down.

And that was if he was lucky. If he was unlucky, he would have every Noble in existence out to destroy him, and they would likely succeed. The Clan Leaders were quite powerful, even if they weren't as experienced as he was, they would pose a grave threat in numbers. If he had to fight Kei, then he would almost certainly die. Furthermore, he would probably come up against Muzaka, who posed a grave threat even to Raizel.

Frankenstein switched on his machines, and examined Raizel's body. He took a vial of what he called the Silverlight Virus. It was a more advanced form of the Blacklight, and for humans, according to his projections, it was 99.9999% fatal. That meant that if every human on earth was infected, only 75,000 would survive. The rest would die. But the 75,000 would become Bioenergy Users, and would have godlike power.

Raizel had a good chance of surviving if he was monitored. Frankenstein cleaned his master's arm and injected the virus. Frankenstein then sat down. He ultimately didn't have to knock Raizel out. But he didn't want Raizel to experience the suffering while he was conscious. And he would be in pain as he bled from every orifice, and felt pain rack his entire body.

"Okay! I'm done with the squats!" Shinwoo yelled. Tao came back over the loudspeaker.

"Okay, great! Now, he said you could take a five minute break if you wanted.

Shinwoo sighed with relief and sat down, taking out a bottle of water and draining it rapidly. While he was doing that, Tao came out with what looked like a wrist strength tester. He told Shinwoo to squeeze as hard as he could.

Shinwoo took the tester, gripping it with all his strength. Tao looked at the number as it went up. It started at 100 kg, which was incredibly powerful, then Shinwoo kept squeezing, and it went up to 300 kg, then to 450, and averaged out there. Tao whistled impressedly.

"Nice, Shinwoo… You really have a strong grip. 450 pounds. My grip is only 172 pounds. Even M-21's grip is only 280 pounds. You really blow us out of the water."

"Gee… I take it he wants me to continue to strengthen my grip?"

"Precisely. Here, this is a specially crafted grip strengthener for you. It's set right now to a grip strength of 450 kg. And it automatically adapts as your strength increases. He says you need to do as many as possible each night along with the rest of your exercises. We will retest your grip strength each week on Sunday. He says he wants to see how far we can go with you. He's never tested Biomass Manipulation on anyone.

"This is mainly because he never had a chance. Almost as soon as he created the Blacklight Virus, he had to run from the Union. So you're his first test subject. If it succeeds, he may test it on us, assuming we're willing to take the risk. He said he knows we want to continue to become more powerful so that Raizel doesn't have to use his powers… Oops, I think I may have said too much…" Tao said, seeming embarrassed.

"No, I already knew that Rai's power comes at a cost. When he uses it, he depletes his life force. He could theoretically dip into the Noblesse Lifeforce Pool, but that would detract from the amount that the next Noblesse would have. So he's unwilling to do that. Rai really is noble. It's hard to see him in the same way as I did before now that I know more about him.

"Although, the more I learn about him, the less I realize I know about him. It's a bizarre twist, isn't it?"

"It sure is. Well, Raizel is incredibly noble, and he's very loyal to you and your friends. I think you may be some of the first real friends he's ever had. He's been very lonely for a very long time. Frankenstein was there for him at some point. But he still had very few friends.

Frankenstein treats him with all the respect and deference that he deserves as the Noblesse, but ultimately, Frankenstein is his servant. It's an unequal relationship. So having friends who treat him as an equal must be wonderful for Raizel. So although he rarely says anything, it isn't because he doesn't enjoy your company. He wants to enjoy your company for as long as he can."

"Didn't Principal Lee say that he was operating on Rai today?"

"Yeah… Something like that. I don't know exactly what he's doing. But Raizel's abilities are sure to increase drastically."

"Well, d'ya know what abilities Rai is going to get?" Shinwoo asked, seeming very interested. Tao shook his head.

"The boss wouldn't say exactly what he was doing. But it's time to get back to sparring. I believe Artemis is up by now. I thought I saw her walking into the kitchen earlier. I think if she goes all out from the start, you'll have less of an advantage. Her problem was that you had little control over your power, and you were draining her energy very slightly with each touch, she was getting tired, and she couldn't really make a killing blow on you.

"After all, you can't die. If you've been meditating as the boss ordered you to do, then you'll have much better control over your powers now."

"No…" Came a voice from the doorway. Rael walked in, sneering at Shinwoo.

"I'll fight him. Remember, Shinwoo… If you lose, you have to break up with Seira and never say a word to her again." Rael sneered, seeming maliciously happy about the situation, completely confident that he would win.

"Yeah, but if I win, I get to copy your powers… Remember?"

"Ahaha! Yes, I remember…" Rael said condescendingly, smiling with an almost pitying grin. Now, should we get to the fight immediately, or did you want to pray to your maker, first?"

"I don't believe in God. Let's go…" Shinwoo said. Tao grinned wildly, typing the commands into the machine. Suddenly, a giant forest came out of the floor. It was a real forest, too.

Frankenstein must have been keeping it alive with false sunlight. Shinwoo looked around. Rael had already disappeared. Suddenly, Shinwoo heard a whoosh, and turned around, but saw nothing. In the next moment, Shinwoo gasped as dozens of cuts were opened across his body. It was obvious that Rael was much faster than he was. But he refused to give up. He wouldn't break up with Seira, ever. So he closed his eyes again, expanding his senses. There was no way to defeat Rael with speed.

So he had to outsmart him. That would be difficult. Rael was over 500 years old. He had been training for hundreds of years. Suddenly, he felt a vague whisper pass through his Sense. Shinwoo clicked his tongue, and listened to his echolocation as it bounced off the trees, and waited for something to sound. Shinwoo turned, and grabbed at Rael, his hand ghosting over Rael's arm as he sliced at him, making a deep wound in Shinwoo's stomach. Shinwoo gasped as his diaphragm was damaged in the attack.

As it began to heal, Shinwoo gasped for breath. After less than a minute, though, the wound was gone. Rael realized that he would need to one hit kill Shinwoo if he was to defeat him. That would kill two birds with one stone. He would have defeated and shamed Shinwoo, and Shinwoo wouldn't have to break up with Seira. Rael was certain that Shinwoo would go back on his word. Humans were never trustworthy. They were so flighty and corrupt that they would betray a person in the blink of an eye.

As Rael closed on Shinwoo again, though, Shinwoo grabbed at Rael, his fingers closing on Rael's arm, who pulled away just in time. Shinwoo cursed. He could be patient if he needed to be, though. He had time. This was a fight of honor, not of necessity. He would defeat Rael and prove that humans were just as capable as Nobles. Rael seemed to completely disappear from Shinwoo's echolocation, though. The redhead extended aura detection, but still detected nothing.

Rael had completely erased his aura. Shinwoo would have to use his other senses. He could likely detect microchanges in air density, like that machine did in the first Alien movie. Shinwoo focused on that, and suddenly, he felt the density changing surrounding every tree, and he breathed in, waiting for Rael to come to him. Five minutes passed. Then seven. Then ten. But finally, Rael seemed to swoop down, his erasure seeming to disperse slightly in his excitement about killing Shinwoo. Shinwoo moved in a flash.

His hands grasped Rael's arm, gripping it tightly, more tightly than Rael could escape from. Shinwoo smirked at Rael.

"Hey, Rael. I win. Nothing personal. But it's time to copy your powers." Shinwoo said with a smile. Rael took both blades of Kartas, and slashed at Shinwoo's arm over and over again.

Though it made deep gouges in his arm, they never made it past the bone, which he had reinforced with hyperdense biomass, and thus, his bones were very hard, dense and difficult to cut through or break. After a few minutes, Shinwoo smirked and let go of Rael.

"Your knowledge, your skill is mine. I've copied M-21's. I've copied yours. I win." Shinwoo said, reaching out to shake Rael's hand. Rael only sneered at Shinwoo, though and stormed away. He had nothing to say to Shinwoo. He was furious. He couldn't believe that a mere human had defeated him so easily. Frankly, it was embarrassing. He refused to accept that a human had beaten him.

He needed to talk to Raizel. The great Noblesse was always so incredibly wise. He would know what Rael should do. It was Raizel who said that he should simply talk to Seira about his conflicted feelings. In truth, it was just that Raizel didn't know what to do. But Rael had seen it as a display of great wisdom.

"Okay! You're done for the day, Shinwoo! You can do whatever you want for the rest of the day. Of course, don't forget that you still have to keep up with your exercise regimen. Now, Frankenstein says that he expects 225,000 of each this week. Next week, he's upping it to 250,000 and so on in that order. Each week, you're expected to do 25,000 more each day of everything, and of course the 80 kilometer run.

He wants me to remind you to keep a log of every modification you make to yourself, the date, and how much biomass you use to do it."

"Sure, Tao! Sounds good." Shinwoo said, running out, actually feeling invigorated. He went out to the kitchen, where Seira was sitting with Raskreia. The two ladies had bought new outfits. Raskreia was looking good in a black and red cotton dress that really brought attention to her eyes.

"Hey, Ras! That dress looks good on you. You always look good, Seira… Did you not buy anything, though?"

"We were going shopping because Lady Raskreia had no human outfits outside her school attire. She can create a limited wardrobe for herself with her powers, but no casual clothes, if you will. But she wanted a wider selection of everyday clothes."

"I see… Would you like to go out for the day, Seira… I know it's last minute, but…"

"I would…" Seira said, not letting him finish before kissing him and putting her shoes on again. Raskreia seemed agitated, still.

"Oh, Lord…" Tao said, coming upstairs. Raskreia looked at him blankly, disconcerting him slightly. What was she thinking? Her eyes said nothing about her thoughts.

She could be wondering why a disgusting human experiment was talking to her. Tao wouldn't expect that she was thinking that. But her expression was so unreadable.

"The boss said that you should go out and enjoy your day. I'm so sorry I didn't get to talk to you earlier. He said to give you this, and to say that Raizel probably wouldn't be out before this evening. The anesthesia he's using will last for around 8 hours."

"Anesthesia? What is that?"

"It's a drug that induces unconsciousness. Doctors use it when they're operating on patients because it spares the patient the pain and fear, and allows the doctor to work in quiet."

"I see… And this… Anesthesia… Is it toxic? Will the Noblesse be permanently harmed by it?"

"Unlikely, Lord… He might be a little disoriented when he wakes up. But that should pass within six hours at the most. Have you ever had alcohol?"

"Only the wines that the Nobles make."

"Well, Anesthesia is a drug, just like alcohol. There's no reason to believe that Raizel will be unduly affected by it."

"I see… Han Shinwoo… I won't disturb you on your date, but will you give me some advice as to what I should spend the day doing?"

"Well, you could go to PC Bang. From what I've seen, you're really good at those computer games. Did you ever play them before you came to Seoul?"

"I did not. We do not have computers in Lukedonia. I did not even know what they were before you introduced me to them."

"Wow… A natural… Well, have fun doing whatever you do. You're not going to go alone, are you?" Shinwoo asked, seeming concerned about Raskreia.

"I had not considered whether I would or not. Is it a human faux pas to go to a PC Bang alone?"

"Well… Not really… But, and I mean this in the nicest way, but… You're a woman… In a big city. There are thugs. There are gangs."

"I am certain I can defend myself, Han Shinwoo. You need not worry about my safety." Raskreia said, seeming slightly offended at Shinwoo's implication.

"That's not the issue. The point is, if you have a man with you… Most people won't bother you in the first place… I know in your case, you're more than capable of kicking ass and looking great doing it. But I would advise you to take someone with you… Just to avoid fights in the first place."

"Thank you, Han Shinwoo… Rael… Would you be kind enough to escort me today?"

"Of course, Lord… It would be my honor…" Rael said, bowing and putting shoes on and going to change his clothes to blend in more with the common populace. The Lord was, in Rael's opinion, wearing an outfit appropriate for one of her eminent status. She was dressed impeccably.

"Hey…" Came a rough, growling voice from across the street. Raskreia and Rael looked up and saw a tall young man, at least 193 centimeters (6'4") walking across with a leering grin on his face. He looked at Raskreia with a perverse look.

"Hey, beautiful… What's your name? Maybe you should ditch this pansy and let a real man show you a good time."

"I decline…" Raskreia said simply, continuing to walk with Rael standing a few steps behind her, seeming perfectly in sync with her movement. The man moved to grab Raskreia's shoulder, but instead had his wrist grabbed by Rael, who squeezed his wrist, causing several loud popping sounds.

"Hey, scum… You dare ask her for her name!? I should turn you into Kimbap… Get your filthy hands away from her!"

"Ooh, I see your little boyfriend is braver than he is smart. He has a strong grip, but not much in the way of brains, I see." The young man said, grabbing Rael by the collar of his shirt and lifting him in the air. Rael twisted elegantly in the air, kicking the man in the face, and sending him flying. He then walked over to him and wrinkled his nose.

"The stink of you is corrupting my nostrils. You're lucky I've been ordered not to kill anyone. Now, get out of our way, or I may have to break that order." Rael snarled. The young man looked nearly ready to piss his pants. He jumped up and bolted, not wanting any more to do with that beautiful young woman and her terrifying boyfriend.

"I apologize, Lord, for allowing that piece of human trash to get anywhere near you. I shall be more diligent in the future."

"It was not an issue. I have heard Raizel say that some humans are like that, but most are very nice and friendly." Raskreia said, continuing to walk to the PC Bang.

"Master? Are you awake?" Frankenstein asked. Raizel moaned and sat up, looking around the room, his head pounding with a headache.

"The lights… They are too bright…" Raizel said. Frankenstein gasped and hurried to turn them far down.

"My apologies, Master…" Frankenstein whispered.

"Tell me, can you feel your new powers?"

"I feel much healthier now. My life force is quickly being restored. How did you manage that, Frankenstein?" Raizel asked, not looking accusingly, but slightly suspiciously.

"Oh, no… I didn't tap into the Noblesse Oblige… Rather, your new powers are inherently magnifying your existing bioenergy, and aplifying it. Your existing bioenergy was so low that it will take a long time to be restored fully, if it is ever fully restored. But by using other humans', Werewolves' and Nobles' bioenergy, you could restore it to full health."

"I am still uncomfortable with the idea of behaving like a parasite. It reeks of the Vampire legends of old."

"I understand, Master. As time goes by, your body will generate a larger and larger amount of bioenergy on its own. Now, you do not have a limited source of bioenergy, so it is much less of a problem. If you do not wish to absorb other creatures' bioenergy, it is understandable.

"Now, I would advise you to get some rest. I performed no surgery on you. I merely injected you with the virus. But I anesthetized you. So you will want to get some rest and everyone will be happy to see you when you come back upstairs."

"Frankenstein…" Raizel said. Frankenstein turned, expecting Raizel to give a command or something. Instead, Raizel had two words for him.

"Thank you…"


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

Raizel walked into the sitting room. He was still a little bit dizzy from the anesthesia. The last time he had felt that dizzy was when he fought the rest of the traitor Nobles. Fortunately Claudia chose that moment to turn on her father. She saw how twisted and deranged her father had become, and wanted nothing to do with his insanity and cruelty anymore. She was deeply disturbed by his evil, and she turned on him, stabbing him in the back quite literally.

She was injured in the fight, but because of Raizel's and Frankenstein's intervention, she survived, and was now leading her Clan as a full Clan Leader. Once Lagus died, his Soul Weapon passed onto Claudia, who gained power through that, and although she still wasn't completely confident that the other Clan Leaders accepted her, the Lord had assured her that she had nothing to worry about.

As he sat down, he was immediately brought some tea by Frankenstein. The others seemed more hesitant to approach him. They could sense the new power in him. Raskreia could practically smell his modifications. He was almost fully recuperated. He wasn't 100%, but he was at least 80%, and he seemed to be growing in power. Where he was less than 1% before, now, he seemed so close to his former power that it was kind of a relief to know that he wouldn't be dying anytime soon.

However, he had betrayed everything the Nobles stood for to do it. Of course, in fairness, the Noblesse had always been an 'artificial Noble'. Tens of thousands of years ago, when humans were new to the earth, a Noble Clan that has been lost to time experimented in creating Noble life. They created a physical body, and the rest of the Noble Clans poured their energy into what they called the Noblesse Oblige. Thereafter, the Noblesse awoke, and became the paragon of Noblesse Oblige.

Unlike other Nobles, the Noblesse had a built in failsafe in which, if they died, they would be reincarnated into the next incarnation of the Noblesse with all the knowledge of the previous Noblesses. There had been four Noblesses thus before Raizel. Raizel was the seventh incarnation. And if Raskreia was reading his power correctly, he may well be the last.

The Noblesse Oblige had enough Life Force in it to fully endow the next Noblesse when she was reincarnated. He could simply have dipped into that store of energy. It was his to take. But the previous Lord, and Raskreia as well knew that he never would. He wanted the next Noblesse to be more powerful than he was. He would have endowed her with the knowledge of Frankenstein. That way, she would have someone to whom she could turn.

It was true that he could someday willingly go into Eternal Sleep. That would count as death, except that the Life Force that he had left would also go into Noblesse Oblige, and the new Noblesse would have an immense level of Life Force, even in comparison to other Noblesses.

Raizel sipped his tea, savoring the smell. Frankenstein was truly a master at making tea, and food. He had really gotten it down to a science.

"Raizel… Are you alright? You've been down there all day! It's already 2100h!" Raskreia protested. Raizel nodded, feeling a wave of dizziness come over him.

"I am merely dizzy. Frankenstein says that after this, anesthesia will never work on me again, but that it will take a little while for me to fully adapt to my powers."

"What did he do? What kind of bizarre abilities did he give you?"

"He called it Bioenergy Manipulation, and it is the result of the Silverlight Virus."

"He injected you with a virus!? Frankenstein! What is wrong with you!?" Raskreia demanded. Frankenstein smiled placatingly at Raskreia.

"Why, the virus was merely a catalyst for the powers. It was never intended to make him ill, only to make him a carrier of the virus. Now that he is a carrier of the virus, he has all the powers inherent in it."

"So you made him sick so he could get more powerful?"

"Well… In a sense. It's difficult to explain. It's not nearly so simple. If he survives the virus, he essentially becomes the virus. So rather than making him sick, I saved his life. Wasn't that what you wanted as well? You can spend as much time as you want with Master, now."

"But… How did his Life Force increase so much?" Raskreia asked. Frankenstein smiled.

"Well, Bioenergy Manipulation intensifies his Bioenergy and increases it. It essentially takes what Bioenergy particles he has, and causes it to spontaneously multiply. If his Bioenergy is low, as it was in his case, it does it very rapidly.

"He had less than 1% of his full Bioenergy, likely around 0.4%. If he had gotten much lower, he likely would have reincarnated. I imagine that he was beginning to have regular dreams about his next life. While it would have been fascinating from a scientific standpoint to see his new reincarnation, I couldn't simply allow my Master to die."

"No, I suppose not. Raizel… Did you really have dreams about your next incarnation?"

Raizel nodded once. Raskreia was sort of hoping for a more in depth answer than that.

"Can you tell me anything about him?"

"She was a woman named Phoebe Rhode Valeriana. She had knee length slate gray hair, though she braided it, so it was probably longer. She was shorter than I am, and more expressive. But she had an intense aura. Her power was greater than mine was, even when I first reincarnated. It was a humbling affair."

"Wait, wait, wait! You reincarnate!? Like, you're born over and over again in different bodies!? That's so cool! You're like the Doctor! Wait, wouldn't you have the memories of your previous life and just come back to Principal Lee in your new body?"

"Yes and no…" Raizel said cryptically. Shinwoo prompted him to go on, but when he didn't Frankenstein filled in the gaps.

"You see, he would have some memories, or rather, she would. But her memories and indeed her entire mind would be confused. She would have difficulty keeping her thoughts straight, and would need extensive help.

"Depending on where Master died, she might be very near or very far away from me. But that is a non-issue, now. You of all people, Shinwoo, can likely feel his aura and strength increasing. Soon, he'll be very near full power."

Raskreia seemed the only one with reservations about this. The others were either too polite to mention it, or didn't care.

Soon, Raskreia took Raizel's hand and led him to the porch, where she closed the door and spoke to him. Shinwoo, who could easily hear them even through the glass, politely tuned his ears out of that conversation so that he wouldn't be eavesdropping.

"Noblesse…" Raskreia said sternly. Raizel looked at her placidly.

"Lord…" He replied.

"I-I… I'm…"

"You are conflicted about my choice." He finished, able seemingly to see right into her mind.

"Yes… Why would you betray everything that the Nobles have stood for for millennia if not longer? Nobles have been around far longer than humans, and we never once resorted to modification to give us power."

"Your father, the previous Lord welcomed change. He said that all beings changed over time, and that if it was our will to change, then he respected it."

"And look where that led us!" Raskreia hissed, seeming slightly hysterical.

"Six of the thirteen great clans betrayed us! They have murdered one of the clan leaders and forced someone who was scarcely qualified to take the reins into that position!

"They almost killed one of the eldest of our race. He is still recovering, even with his expedited healing, something about what Tradio did made his healing very slow… The Noble Clans are weaker than ever, and my father's naiveté is to blame!"

"Do you really believe that, Raskreia?" Raizel asked. Raskreia seemed conflicted for a moment or two, looking like she might either cry or become very angry… Or both…

"Yes! N-no! I don't know! My father believed he was doing the right thing! But… But…"

"The traitorous Clan Leaders already had treachery in their hearts. They did not choose to go into Eternal Sleep with your father, and instead chose to defect to the Union. Was it wrong for them to choose to leave Lukedonia?

"No. Was it wrong for some of them to choose to be modified? No. It was wrong of them to try to harm humans, though. And for that, I had to execute them."

"They also tried to kill you! You went into an 820 year hibernation because of their treachery! Aren't you angry about that!?"

"It was their will. If they wanted to kill me, then they were merely following their own will. And I followed my duty and attempted to stop them. Why would I be angry?"

"Raizel… Y-you're… You're too accommodating… If you had died, then… I would never have gotten to spend this time with you like I have… I never would have learned that you were innocent of the treachery, and I never would have fallen in love with you…"

"I love you, too, Erga Kenesis diRaskreia…" Raizel said, his mind flipping back to the pages on kissing. He gently embraced her. He didn't know if she was livid, or blushing, or if she was happy that he had finally kissed her. But their lips met, and he closed his eyes, prodding at her lips with his tongue.

Raskreia had received a similar pamphlet from Frankenstein. Her eyes closed, and she allowed his tongue to pass, and they stayed like that for a minute or two before pulling apart. Raskreia could feel his aura becoming slightly erratic. They were both blushing heavily.

"Did Frankenstein…" Raskreia began. Raizel stopped her, though, taking her hand, their fingers lacing.

"How familiar are you with the human constellations? See that star right there? That one is called Tanabata, or Orihime, the Stellar Princess. She was in love with the human, Kengyu, or Hikoboshi. But when Orihime's father found out, he forbade their love, and separated them, and places them in the sky, separated by the Milky Way so that they can never see each other.

"But the gods of the sky were kinder than the cruel king. On the seventh night of the seventh moon each year, a bridge of magpies forms across the Milky Way, and they are permitted to see each other. Sometimes, though, the river is treacherous and Kengyu cannot cross. On those years, Orihime's tears fall to the earth in rainstorms.

"That is Japanese mythology, not Korean. But it is widely told across Asia to young children."

"That is a sad story… Did that really happen?"

"I am not certain. I believe Frankenstein said it was just a myth. Most human myths of magic were related to early stories of the Nobles performing feats that seemed supernatural at the time."

"That is ridiculous. Only the Eleanor Clan has ever had anything even resembling magic, and even that is based on the power of their blood."

"I am aware. Humans have not got such clarity, though. What they do not understand, they fear as black magic."

"Why are they all looking at us inside?" Raskreia asked. Raizel looked up at the group, who all pretended to go back to what they were doing. Even Frankenstein had clearly been watching.

"My apologies." Raizel said, using his telekinesis to close the curtains so they couldn't be seen.

"I expect that behavior from humans, but not from Nobles, and not even your pet human."

"I will instruct him to behave more appropriately in the future."

Raskreia laughed at the mention of this. Seeing her actually laughing caused Raizel to blush lightly.

"Do you remember back over 820 years ago? Before my father went into his eternal sleep, he would send me to visit you. He never told me what the visit was about, or how long I should stay… So we just sat there and stared at each other. Your unflinching gaze was kind of unnerving… But now, thinking about it, it was really hilarious. Father had a strange sense of humor… And nobody could ever figure out what they talked about when they went to visit you.

"The other Clan Leaders visited you, and probably did the same thing I did. You never sent anyone away. Your pet human would always serve tea and snacks, but you never spoke, and nobody wanted to start the conversation, so eventually they left. Maybe tiny conversations that you would answer with yes and no answers took place."

"Is that really how I came across? I did not mean to…" Raizel said, blushing again.

"Would you have known what to say if you were to speak?" Raskreia asked. Raizel stayed silent for a moment… Then a few seconds… Then ten seconds.

"I doubt it. Pardon me." Raizel said, his eyes narrowing. Raskreia sniffed the air. Suddenly, she felt it as well. There was a powerful force coming toward them. It wasn't malevolent in nature, though it wasn't exactly friendly either. There were two such auras. One was clearly that of a Werewolf, and the other was a modified human… And a powerful one. One that was not to be trifled with.

 _Frankenstein…_ Raizel said. Frankenstein nodded mentally.

" _Yes, Master. I sense them as well. They will be here momentarily. I have already advised the others to go downstairs into the safe room. It would be advised that you go as well with the Lord. But I know you will not."_

 _Allow me this moment of selfishness. I must see him, if only one more time. This may be our final battle._

 _"Yes, Master…"_ Frankenstein said, seeming deeply distressed. He knew that Raizel could easily win… Now, but he was still just out of the operation.

"Hello? How may I help you?" Frankenstein asked.

"No, Sir Muzaka _…_ " Frankenstein's heart seemed to stop momentarily. He had known whose presence he felt, but he hoped beyond hope that he was wrong.

"Press this button… Press this button… No, don't press it twice… You just turned it off. Press that button once…" Frankenstein sighed as he saw and heard his buzzer being used so incorrectly. He wasn't surprised. Nobody could be as technologically inept as his Master. But Muzaka was just as old as Raizel… And he was just recently awoken. There may be a slight lag in his ability to comprehend modern technology.

"Um, my apologies. I understand that this is the home of the Noblesse and his servant?" A young looking red haired female asked over the intercom.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

"Please leave my Master alone. I do not wish to fight you, but I will if I must to protect him."

"Fight? No… We don't wish to fight. If we may have a brief audience, we will agree to any terms you have." Yuizi said, speaking for both of them.

Frankenstein looked at Raizel, whose gaze was completely unreadable, or would have been to most people. Frankenstein sensed confusion, conflicting emotions, love for his once best friend, but also concern for the safety of his current friends and those under his protection. He could not let his friendship with Muzaka to cloud his judgment. It would be completely unacceptable.

"We will meet with you. But not here. A private location of Master's choosing. You will bring no weapons, and if threats of any kind, veiled or open are uttered… Trust me, I will know… The conversation is entirely over. I will not have my Master, my friends and my city threatened and destroyed by the likes of you. Do I make myself clear?"

"Abundantly, sir. Where would you like to meet me?"

"Do you remember where we first met again, Muzaka…?" Raizel asked. Muzaka nodded. On the other side of the city in a park.

"We will meet there in one hour. It will be dark by then, and we will, in all likelihood have it to ourselves. You are to bring nobody else but yourselves, and we will search the area beforehand to be sure of that. I am sorry old friend… But I… I cannot in good conscience trust you."

"I understand, old friend. You're behaving appropriately, given my past behavior. We will see you there in one hour. Thank you for convincing your servant to hear our request."

Raizel said nothing, merely shutting the intercom off. When he turned around, both the Lord and Frankenstein were shocked to see that Raizel was crying.

Raizel never lost control of his emotions. He had them, just like anyone else. But he always kept a tight lid on them. But now, not only had he shown intense emotion, but he was crying. Raskreia hugged Raizel, kissing him consolingly.

"I know he was a good friend of yours… Please don't get your hopes up… We know what he's capable of. I don't want to see you hurt again…

"You always have to stay strong for everyone else, and you've never gotten to be selfish even once in your life. Your devotion to duty is admirable. But… I-I don't want to see you hurt by Muzaka again."

"You are wrong. My relationship with you… Is the most selfish thing I have ever done. I am taking you away from your duties, and potentially ignoring my own.

"My friendship with the children is terribly selfish. I put them in danger for the sake of my own happiness. They are constantly threatened. I became modified, thus betraying you, and everything the Nobles have stood for for tens of thousands of years just so I could live longer.

"I am just as selfish as anyone else."

"It's not selfish to want to be happy, Rai… It's not selfish to want to feel loved. If the children and I can help you with those things, I'm happy to do so, and I'm sure if they knew just how much they meant to you, they'd say the same thing."

"Thank you." Raizel said, opening the door and telling Raskreia to stay behind and keep an eye on the house. It wasn't that he didn't believe in her. It was just a personal conversation that he would be having, especially with the man who was once his best friend, and really only friend in the world. Raskreia seemed conflicted, though she said nothing, and bowed politely, respecting his will.

"Hmm… Master, there don't seem to be any Union agents in the park, and I mentally commanded everyone within a one kilometer radius to go home. They all believe simply that they forgot something important they needed to do at home. Nobody will bother us. I have combed the entire park. I doubt that anyone could come through that I didn't know about, as I set up sensors around the park that will report to me."

"Good… The time?"

"1803h… They should be here in a few minutes, if I am not mistaken, Master. Ah, someone just passed the sensors. If they are able to overcome my psychic suggestion, then they must be powerful. And they are travelling far too fast to be normal humans."

"Good… Muzaka…" Raizel said, looking levelly into Muzaka's eyes, looking for even the slightest hint of betrayal. Muzaka was surprised to see that although there was slightly conflicting emotions, there was no hesitation in those blood red eyes of his. He would kill him in an instant if it came to a fight.

"I would like first to apologize, and to beg your forgiveness… Old friend… Perhaps we could sit down… Have some time alone… That is, if your servant doesn't mind."

"He does not. Frankenstein… Go interrogate the woman… Somewhere else…"

"But, Master…!" Frankenstein exclaimed, shocked that Raizel was being so lax so soon after his modification. Raizel looked at him with that placid, almost unreadable stare.

"Y-yes, Master…" Frankenstein said.

"Would you do me the honor of accompanying me on a walk around the park, Milady?" Frankenstein asked politely, bowing and extending his hand to the red headed woman. He spoke lightly, but she could tell that if she refused, that would be the end of any discussion they may be able to have.

"O-of course, sir…"

"Please, don't call me 'sir'… It makes me feel so draconian… My master calls me Frankenstein…"

"Like the doctor in the book?"

"I was the doctor in the book. Although, I never created a monstrosity like that, most of the actions attributed to me were mere stories, mostly exaggerated, all unspeakably horrible. There is no need to look so scared. I have no intention of harming you.

"I swear on my master's name that if you obey our conditions, you will not come to harm. Could I at least ask your name? it would make it easier to talk with you."

"Yuizi… I was a member of Cerberus in my days in the Union. However, Yuri betrayed us, and tried to kill me. He nearly succeeded. His attack slowed my healing significantly. I barely survived, and went into a recuperative hibernation that mimicked death almost perfectly.

"Once I was strong enough to move, I snuck out in between watches. Crombel was going to experiment on my body, find out what made us so powerful. But I managed to escape. I felt myself becoming weaker due to the stress of overextending myself in my weakened condition. I collapsed in front of a hospital and was immediately taken in. I knew I couldn't let them examine me. They would discover that I was different from normal humans. I… Unfortunately had to kill multiple doctors, nurses and guards.

"I regret having to harm innocent people. Their only sin was the misfortune of coming across me. But I escaped the hospital, and hid out in a community of homeless people. Although I was weakened, I was far stronger than any normal human. I convinced them, deluded and mentally ill as many of them are, that I was an angel of protection fallen from the heavens, and I protected them when they needed it, and they helped me recuperate.

"They knew a lot of things that ordinary people don't. They could get in and out of pharmacies without being noticed by monitors. They could filch food from convenience stores. They knew the hospitals that didn't ask a lot of inconvenient questions, and would fix you up for minimal cost. They knew underground doctors who, if you cheated them out of their payment couldn't go to the police over it.

"So I recovered, and trained several of the more mentally stable homeless in the arts of self-defense that I knew so they could defend themselves, and I left. That was about a week ago. I ran into Muzaka a few days ago, and he said that he had defected the Union and was in a bind. He needed to visit an old friend of his, but couldn't really find his way around the city very well.

"We worked together, and found your place. We scoped it out, saw who came and went, and learned what we could about the inhabitants. We saw that the Lord of the Noblesse was cohabiting with the Noblesse himself, and that you were seeing a great deal of a young redheaded kid. He seemed incredibly powerful, even by the standards of modified humans. When he was alive, we were the personal bodyguards of the Twelfth Elder, dedicated to protecting him when he was out on business…"

"Ah, yes… The Twelfth Elder… I remember him. The angry little man who was Roktis's bonded. He turned into a bat creature. So, you worked with him. I remember Cerberus. They were all so disappointing in terms of their power. I hope you are not half so dimwitted and weak as they are."

"Frankenstein, I remember three other modified humans and two or so Noblesse fighting us. But not you."

"No, I didn't fight Cerberus personally. However, I gathered the data from my three pet projects' fight with you. I was impressed with their ability to overcome the difference in strength and ability, but disappointed deeply in your comrades' lack of ability to overcome their own arrogance."

"Yes… I like to believe that I am different, but… How different can I really be? I willingly joined the Union. I agreed to the experiments. I killed many people in the name of that organization.

"Perhaps you are ill advised to trust me…"

"I do not need to trust you. Master has offered you a chance to prove yourself. That is all I need. Tell me. Do you regret your decision to join the Union? To kill more innocents in the name of your escape? Remember that I can read your mind, if you're thinking of lying to me."

"I do feel regret. They didn't deserve to die. They were doctors, nurses and guards just doing their jobs. I could have threatened them and intimidated them. But instead, I murdered them. There's no excuse for what I did. Whatever penalty you think I deserve, I will accept."

"Penalty? I'm not a judge. I'm not an executioner. I'm merely a servant, and a defender of those I hold dear. So tell me… Will you fight to defend our household?"

"Sorry?"

"That is what you want… Correct? To move in with us? Nobody lives with me for free. Everyone in the house does work. They help clean, they wash dishes, they cook when requested… You can help certain members of the household train in fighting."

"I… Well… I just wanted your advice… I read up on some ancient texts from the Union. They all say that you were one of the founding members, that your data was always far beyond anything any other researcher could do, and that you were one of the scientists that created the first human modifications… And that you also only ever experimented on yourself.

"You obviously have a great deal of experience… You left the Union, and no current Union member has ever been a match for you. What should I do, now that I'm a rogue agent? I could come live with you. But agents are still hunting me. I've had to fight off several when I was recovering with the homeless community. I found of late that the rat problem in Seoul has become much more bearable.

"My… Wards in the homeless community… Have reported to me that none of their fellows have died of late from being bitten by rats, or of rat related illnesses…"

"I don't think anyone has suffered a bout of Plague in hundreds of years…"

"No… Not Plague. Rats live in the sewers. They carry hundreds if not thousands of illnesses. So tell me, do you have any clue as to where the rats went?"

"Well… I can't disclose that just yet. However, if Master accepts you into his home, you may find out for yourself, soon enough. Let's just say we have a very creative friend…"

"I understand. I apologize for disturbing you and your Master and his lover…"

"Lover?" Frankenstein asked. Yuizi blushed slightly.

"Oh, when I realized that the Noblesse and the Lord were cohabiting, I assumed…"

"Well… I believe my master is finished speaking with Muzaka."

"…" Raizel stared at Muzaka, saying nothing.

"…" Muzaka could feel Raizel's intense stare, and couldn't help but feel slightly uncomfortable.

"…" More staring.

"Raizel… I…" Muzaka began. He was sure that Raizel was going to say something. He didn't though. He just kept staring. It was such a piercing gaze, though, like Raizel was looking into his soul. The Noblesse simply nodded.

"I… I'm really sorry for how I behaved… I discovered only recently that there may be something far beyond what I could imagine responsible for my daughter's death.

"I desired revenge on humans because I believed that humans were responsible for Ashlyn's death. She was so young. She hadn't even had her first transformation yet. Only twelve years old… And yet she was murdered… I don't know what to believe anymore… Please, tell me what I'm supposed to believe… I've always trusted you even beyond any of my own people. You have never lied to me.

"How did you do it? Kill some of your own fellows? Your own fellow Nobles?"

"It was my duty." Raizel said simply, barely above a whisper. However, Muzaka heard him loud and clear, like he was yelling in a silent room.

"And what is my duty in this case?"

"To learn the truth…" Raizel responded, again in the supreme simplicity for which he was so known. Often, he went entire days, weeks without saying more than two words to anyone. Recently, he had become more talkative. But still, he had trouble knowing what to say most of the time.

"But what is the truth?"

"I know the truth through Frankenstein… He investigated and informed me. But are you certain that you wish to know the truth. Sometimes, a lie is more pleasant."

"No… I need to know the truth! I need to know who I can trust!"

"You are certain?"

"Yes!"

"Then, your own followers killed your daughter. They were led by Maduke, who is now Lord of the Werewolves and Second Elder, to murder Ashlyn. They wanted to set you up to attack humans so that I would kill you and he could become Lord."

"Impossible. I would have sensed the presence of Werewolves if they had used their powers to murder her. You're lying!"

"I am not. The Werewolf minions used a crossbow bolt to shoot her. They killed her with mundane weapons so that you would believe that humans did it. Maduke wanted you out of the way. Is that so hard to believe?"

"I'll kill him…"

"Would Ashlyn want that?"

"It doesn't matter! Ashlyn is gone!"

"Ashlyn is never gone, as long as you remember her. The Elders need to be killed, destroyed. But not for revenge. Revenge is never the path.

"I considered revenge as I went into my 820 year Hibernation. But I had time to think when I was sleeping. If it was the traitor Clan Leaders' will to kill me, then I respect that. I could not simply allow them to succeed. Nor could I allow them to harm innocent humans. But their will was their own choice, and I must respect that."

"I admire you, Raizel… How do you stay so serene, so calm? What keeps you sane, when the world is changing constantly around you. You woke up to a world vastly different from the world you were in when you went to sleep. It can't have been easy."

"It was not. But I have friends, and people who care about me, and whom I care about.

"I find myself now fighting for them, to keep them safe. And… I demand that anyone in my ward also fight for the good of my friends, and for those that I protect… Humans… They are short lived, short sighted and often short on scruples. But I have spent my entire life defending them. And there is no reason I can see to stop now. I will accept your word if you promise that you will protect the lives of the humans in this city. You can live with us if you desire, or live as you please.

"I know you have always had a wanderlust that cannot be easily sated."

"Well… I'm getting older… Not physically, but I've seen most of the world… Maybe not all of it. But maybe it's time to settle down. I think I'd like to try staying in one place for a while. I will defend people with you. I'm so sorry that I hurt you all those years ago. I knew of your dwindling life force, and I attacked you, anyway. I understand that you barely survived.

"I also sense that you're a modified Noble, now. Am I correct in that?"

"Yes. Frankenstein turned me into a Bioenergy Manipulation user. It has drastically increased my life force, and Frankenstein says that there is a chance that I could now live forever, assuming that I do not use all of it in one battle. That is unlikely, he says."

"I'm glad. Looks like your stooge is back with Yuizi. She's very pretty, isn't she, and strong… For a human? She defended the helpless, those ignored by society. I respect her for that."

"Master… I apologize for interrupting… But… I believe that Miss Yuizi is telling the truth… She does regret her actions in the past. What is your read on Muzaka."

"He is being honest… I do not believe that he means harm. He was shocked when he found out that his daughter was killed by Werewolves. I wish to let them stay with us."

"Yes, Master… You two, come with us." Frankenstein said cheerfully. Muzaka seemed stunned that this had gone so well. Even Yuizi seemed a little taken aback. Although Frankenstein seemed less trusting of them, but Raizel had said he wanted this. So Frankenstein obeyed.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

"You leave with only one person and come back with three? Far be it from me to question you, boss… But what on earth possessed you to invite a member of Cerberus into our house? Ahahahaha!"

"It was not my decision, Tao. It was Master's. Everyone, this is Muzaka, the former Lord of the Werewolves. What Raskreia is to Nobles, Muzaka once was to Werewolves.

"And this is Yuizi. She is a modified human. But most of you seem to recognize her. She was a member of an elite team of bodyguards for the Twelfth Elder."

"We were human weapons. Each of us had near unrivaled proficiency with a particular weapon, which was built into our battle suit. Ked had spiked boxing gloves. Lutai had chainsaws. Rodin had a trident, and I had dual katanas. I preferred a more graceful style of combat."

"What about that crazy spiky haired lady that fought Seira and got her ass kicked?" Tao asked.

"I wasn't there. But as there are only two female members of Cerberus, I suspect you mean Taze. She used a scythe, and fancied herself the avatar of death. From what I understand, she lost miserably to a Noblesse with a similar scythe. Small world, right?" Yuizi asked. Tao laughed nervously at this.

"Well, you see… Miss Seira was the one who defeated Taze. As the inheritor of the Loyard Clan, she is the possessor of the Death Scythe."

"I see I am in the presence of many powerful individuals. The Noblesse, his servant, who has confounded and terrified the Union, apparently for over a thousand years, two Clan Leaders, three Werewolves, and two moderately powerful modified humans."

Tao was about to say something about the 'moderately powerful' comment. But M-21 stopped him.

"And you're… Raizel's old friend?" Tao asked, turning to Muzaka, who nodded soberly.

"Yes. We met over 1,000 years ago, long before the Clan Leaders betrayed his Lord and my followers betrayed me. They happened to approximately coincide, though I don't know that it was intentionally that way. I still want revenge to some degree.

"I still feel intense anger toward Maduke, coward that he is, and his treacherous followers. I'm certain that he is just as afraid of fighting me as I am enraged at him…" Yuizi said, staggering slightly as she tried to walk around. She had been feeling lightheaded of late. She attributed it to the sudden changes she had happening to her, though.

Suddenly, though, she collapsed, shivering violently. Frankenstein and M-21 moved the fastest and caught her, bringing her down to the laboratory, where they got her onto one of Frankenstein's gurneys. She was far from dead. But Frankenstein felt her head. She was burning up. Her temperature had to be at least 40oC (104oF). It was a miracle she was still alive, really. If this was a result of her body breaking down, she could be dead in a matter of hours… And it would be painful.

"M-21… Get Tao…" Frankenstein ordered. M-21 ran upstairs telling Tao to go down before sitting down across from Muzaka, who assessed him carefully.

"Hmm… You aren't a Werewolf, but you're not unlike a Werewolf. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, you're probably able to fully transform… What exactly are you? A Half-Werewolf?"

"No… I'm simply a modified human. Crombell put a Werewolf heart inside of me… I only recently learned to fully transform, and even more recently learned to fully control myself during my transformation. At first, I lost my mind when I transformed. It was impossible for me to control myself."

"Hmm… Humans never cease to amaze me. So inventive. That is a problem for many young Werewolves. They often transform spontaneously on the Full Moon and have difficulty controlling themselves during their transformation. That's where a lot of the folklore came from. However, our bite is not infectious. In fact, if anything, Werewolves are far less likely to contract diseases. Our immune systems are so much stronger than a human's that almost nothing can infect us."

"I see…"

"Yes, and I see this young lady is also a Werewolf. A full Werewolf if I'm not mistaken… You're quite beautiful… May I ask your name?" Muzaka asked with a friendly smile, causing Artemis to blush deeply. The former Werewolf Lord was so handsome. She was concerned about the green eyed, red haired young woman. But there were just so many beautiful people in this house.

She wondered how it was possible. She stuttered for a moment, then managed to say something.

"I-I… I'm Artemis…"

"Artemis… What a beautiful name… You're the huntress…"

"That's what my father tells me. I was trained in quiet kill techniques. Open combat isn't my specialty. Raizel's red haired friend can tell you that I'm better at killing from behind in one hit."

"Hm… Not exactly my preferred method of combat. You were taught to fight in your human form, weren't you?" Muzaka asked. Artemis nodded.

"I thought so. You won't learn how to use your transformation to its utmost with assassination techniques. Your wolf form is used to further enhance your strength, endurance, resilience, healing, and other factors that allow you to overwhelm your opponents with sheer force.

"I would be glad to help you train in fighting. That is, if Frankenstein and Raizel don't have a problem with it?" Muzaka asked, looking at Raizel.

"I don't."

"Great…"

"I-I would be honored… Lord…" Artemis said quietly. Was he hitting on her? It was flattering, but she was crushing hard on Seira. She knew she wouldn't ever make Seira fall for her. But she could at least love who she wanted.

"Should we start now?"

"If you like. M-21… Where can we fight without destroying anything?"

"I don't know. That's a tough question. Are you planning on going all out, Muzaka, sir?" Tao asked, coming out into the sitting room. Muzaka shook his head, laughing.

"Of course not. I would kill the poor girl. I may have made some mistakes, but I'm not completely mad."

"No, you have several pieces missing, Muzaka. Let me warn you again… If I even detect a hint that you pose a threat to Master, I will eliminate you without a second thought. But with that thought, what are we going to do about sleeping arrangements? I'm beginning to run out of rooms. Twelve people…"

 _When am I ever going to get time alone with Master? All these guests… I draw them like flies._ Frankenstein thought desolately, remembering the days in Raizel's mansion when it was just the two of them. They could talk for hours… Well, he could talk for hours, and Raizel would just sit there and nod, or simply stare at him. Back then, he was still such a lonely figure. He didn't resent the Clan Leaders visiting him, and he would never turn anyone away. But he still preferred spending his time just with Frankenstein.

And though Frankenstein had initially hated Nobles for their arrogance, Raizel completely changed his opinion of the Noble race. Raizel was the noblest and most elegant of Nobles that he had ever met, and his respect for Raizel bordered on worship. Even before he made the Contract with him, he saw him as a nearly godlike being. Now, there was nobody he respected more in the world.

Frankly, he wanted some time just with him and his Master. He would and easily could pay for everyone else to go on a vacation. He had been planning to claim that he and Raizel were going to take care of something in Lukedonia, and just stay there for a week or two. He didn't need long. He just wanted a little time alone with his Master.

"Frankenstein…" Raizel said softly. Frankenstein's ears perked up, and he walked over to Raizel, bowing politely.

"Yes, Master?"

"Who is the Doctor?" He asked. Frankenstein thought for a moment.

"You're referring to what Shinwoo mentioned? The Doctor is a television character on a show called Doctor Who. It is one of the most popular serials in Britain for over fifty years. That is… A long time by human standards."

"I see. Is it a good show?"

"I will buy some DVDs of it, Master…" Frankenstein said with a bow.

"I've got some DVDs of it, boss! I'm a huge fan of Doctor Who! I watch the serial on the BBC every day!" Tao exclaimed cheerfully. Frankenstein smiled.

"Good. Do you have them here?"

"Of course… I'll go get em! We're gonna have a Doctor Whoathon! We'll start with the First Doctor and we'll end with the Twelfth…! Ahahahahahahahaha!"

"Tao… It will take more than a month to watch all 826 episodes of Doctor Who…" Takeo said, rolling his eyes with exasperation.

"Well, it will take a while. Why don't we start with the First Doctor and see if Sir Raizel likes it. Then we can go on from there. My favorite was always the Tenth Doctor. Had a great way with the ladies. I'll go get 'em right now!" Tao yelled, running to his room and grabbing the discs, then running back and putting the first one in the DVD player. Frankenstein sat down and politely watched the show.

Six hours later, Raizel yawned. Frankenstein saw this and turned off the television, standing and taking Raizel to his bed.

"There's school tomorrow, Master… Have a good night." Frankenstein said, bowing and closing the door.

A/N: I apologize for the short chapter. However, this one was slow coming to my mind. I hope the next chapter will be longer. I promise nothing, though.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

"Are you sure, Headmaster, that it's alright for me to be a school military agent?"

"You're not a military agent. You're a security guard. Please try not to harm anyone. Tao, Takeo and M-21 are your seniors. They'll fill you in on your duties. My Master and his friends should be in any moment."

"Hey, Principal Lee! I have a question!" Shinwoo yelled, striding in as cheerfully as ever he was. Frankenstein smiled.

"Shinwoo, I appreciate your company… But do you think you could work on controlling the volume of your voice?" Frankenstein asked. Shinwoo was about to yell that he would do that, but then he spoke much more quietly.

"Sure… No problem. Can I ask you something?"

"Of course…" Frankenstein said with a smile.

"C-can I… Tell my friends about my modifications? I-I don't feel right keeping them out. It's like I'm lying to them. I copied Ikhan's knowledge about computers, all my teachers' knowledge about their respective subjects. I've stolen a lot of knowledge…

"And well, that doesn't bother me. But I'd at least like to be able to tell them that I've done it. I know so much more about the world than I used to, and I won't say a word about Rai and about who and what you are… I swear. But I'd like to at least tell my friends about myself…"

"That's very noble, Shinwoo… I would expect no less of you. But… First you have to ask yourself… Would they believe you just on your word? Or would you have to show them proof? And if you showed them proof, they'd believe you. But… Are you ready to have your relationship with them change so drastically?"

"What do you mean? They'd be cool with my powers… No problem…"

"You and your friends have been told about what we are before. We've always erased your memories because we believed you'd be safer without that knowledge. A tiny bit of knowledge can be very dangerous. If you told your friend, Ikhan about the Union, do you think he'd just accept what you said and not do any research of his own?" Frankenstein asked. Shinwoo shook his head.

"Of course not. He'd research the Union obsessively until he knew everything about it."

"Ah… But information on the Union is extremely classified. And they would find out that he knew about them, and they would come after him and everyone he was associated with. My intention is not to scare you, Shinwoo… Only to ask you to think about the consequences of your actions. Your friends, Ikhan, Yuna and Suyi would be in danger…

"I can assure you that they wouldn't allow them simply to live with the knowledge of the Union… Do you understand, Shinwoo? Ultimately, normal humans aren't ready to have knowledge of such things. Humans naturally fear what they can't explain, or don't understand. And frankly, the only thing they would understand about this is that it means that they are surrounded by beings that are more powerful than them, and could dominate and control them at any time.

"And I can assure you that when the wolf wants to devour a sheep, they don't introduce themselves as a wolf. They allow the sheep to believe that they're safe. And after they feel safe, the wolf can easily kill one at any time. That's how a predator behaves. And the Union is very much the biggest predator in the world. So, it's ultimately up to you, but I would suggest that you leave your friends in the dark about your new abilities."

"I-I understand." Shinwoo said, upset that he couldn't talk to his friends about his powers.

"Shinwoo… Is something wrong?" Raizel asked. Frankenstein and Shinwoo both stared at Raizel for a moment. Shinwoo didn't expect Rai to be so perceptive.

"I-I… I feel different, now… And not in a good way. I feel like I'm changing and I no longer have anything in common with my friends. How can I call myself their friend if I'm lying to them?"

"You must do what you think is right…" Raizel said stoically. He had said this before, and every time he said it, it seemed to be a statement of great wisdom and transcendent insight. He had never said it to Shinwoo before, though. Shinwoo sighed.

"I don't know what's right. If I don't tell them, I lose them as friends. If I do, they become targets of a psychotic evil organization.

"It's a lose-lose situation. I can't let my friends be killed, but I can't let myself be alienated from them, either."

"It's a difficult situation, Shinwoo. Yuizi, maybe you have some insight that could help him?"

"I'm not certain what help I could be. I joined the Inconnu when I was only fourteen. I didn't really have many friends… But I was an excellent martial artist. I had already become a master of jujitsu and tae kwon do. But I was extremely shy and didn't make friends easily.

"So I'm not really the person to ask that question. But… It's time for you to get to class, Han Shinwoo… When the time comes, you'll know what to do… I can promise you that. You're noble to worry about your friends. But you also need to think about yourself and your own happiness."

"Thank you… What did you say your name was?"

"Yuizi Saito… Now… Go. Go to class."

"Okay… See you later. You coming, Seira?"

"Yes…" Seira replied, walking slowly and calmly next to Shinwoo to class, taking his hand, their fingers lacing together.

"Shinwoo… You're just in time… There's a new student today… We seem to keep getting all these foreigners. They're all so beautiful, too…" Yuna said, smiling at Shinwoo as he sat down.

"Huh? Who's the new student?" Shinwoo asked. Yuna pointed to the front of the classroom where a young blond walked into the room, smiling politely at the class.

"Hi… My name is Tesamu Klerkse… I'm first from Northern Holland, though I spend so much time moving around that I own some easy with most European languages. I've learned… Some Korean, though I wouldn't say I'm knowledge with it… Maybe you will can help me?" Tesamu said sheepishly. Only Shinwoo could tell that he was faking his awkwardness with the language. He had heard Tesamu speaking Korean perfectly at one point. So he knew that he spoke it fluently.

"I'm sure the other students will help you become more familiar with the language. You can go sit down in the back row over there." Mr. Park said, pointing to the seat behind Shinwoo. Tesamu smiled and nodded, walking to the back.

" _Hi, Han Shinwoo… It's good to see you again. I can feel that you've become much more powerful since we last met. The Professor has obviously taught you well…"_

 _Not interested in your bullshit. You murdered my father. Revenge is unbecoming, but I refuse to join the Union._

 _"Perhaps I did. But, think of it this way. Your father has been lying to you your entire life. He lied to you about his job. He lied to you about where he was going, and he lied to you about his affiliations. In fact, the organization that he works for has kidnapped and harmed you and your friends on multiple occasions._

 _"Perhaps it's best that he's dead. There's no way you could have trusted him again, am I correct?"_

 _We would have worked through it! There's no reason that we couldn't have. Now, I'm trying to pay attention._

 _"Why? I can sense that you already know everything that Mr. Park is teaching… You've taken to your powers very quickly. I'm impressed. You were much faster in getting used to them than I was, and I was the Professor's assistant for over a year."_

 _Really?_

 _"Yes. At first, I was a spy for the Union and the elders of the village more directly. They wanted the Professor dead because they were afraid of him and his power. But I grew to respect him. He's noble, and has only ever experimented using himself as a test subject. So, after the Professor went on the run, leaving his notes to me, I studied them and became facile with them._

 _"Then, I created the Blacklight Virus, and injected myself… I almost died… But I survived, perhaps on mere willpower, and became what I am now. I understand that the Professor has created a more powerful version of Biomass Manipulation. Rumor amongst the Union is that he has already imparted the gift of this upgraded Biomass Manipulation on his master._

 _"Rumor also has it that you have become closer in recent weeks to the Professor. We believe that you are in a unique position to get us the information that we need. In the past few weeks, the rat problem has almost disappeared as well. We suspect that this has to do with your gaining Biomass Manipulation. Very clever. But it's not even the most productive way to gain biomass._

 _"Certainly, rats are bountiful in the city, and the rats that you didn't capture no doubt have become factories for more biomass. But have you considered that if you infect a tree, and make it produce biomass on a daily basis, you can have a nearly never ending source of biomass?"_

 _I hadn't considered that. I also hadn't considered that I could make rats spontaneously generate biomass. However, by now, the population should have more than doubled. There may only be forty or sixty rats right now. But if I infest all of them, then…_

 _"There isn't even a need. Infect one, and the one will infect all the others. You could infect more than one and it would go faster."_

 _I see… Thank you. But I refuse to betray Principal Lee. He's been good to my friends and me. It would be unthinkable to turn on him._

 _"Oh, really? Not even if I told you that half the time, the reason that you and your friends were harmed was because of him and the Noblesse. The Union, shameful as it is, were out to harm those close to him and his servant. And you fit that bill perfectly."_

 _Shut up. I'm trying to pay attention…_ Shinwoo said, blocking his mind against Tesamu's telepathy, vowing to tell Principal Lee about Tesamu. He was sure that his principal could easily defeat the upstart youth, but still, if his power was as great as he claimed it to be, even Principal Lee would have difficulty.

"Principal Lee… May I… Speak to you… There's a huge issue…"

"Yes, I know there is. Tesamu has infiltrated the school. I didn't recognize his spiritual signature at first. But now, I'm sure. My former protégé is a student here. But, I suspect that in talking to him, you learned more about his goals than I know."

"He tried to get me to steal the secret of Rai's new power, and give it to him. He said something about Rai's power being an upgrade to Tesamu's own. I can't imagine what could be more powerful than Biomass Manipulation, though. Using the rats and the trees themselves as biomass factories to evolve yourself even more."

"Well, I will tell you… But… You must swear to never tell Tesamu of this."

"Of course! I would never betray you, Principal Lee…"

"Good… It's called Bioenergy Manipulation… For what all mass is energy, but not all energy has a substantial mass. Bioelectricity, for instance, can be controlled by Bioenergy Manipulation.

"You could paralyze the opponent by disrupting their bioelectricity. Of course, a Biomass user could paralyze an opponent by paralyzing their muscles. But, it's not quite the same process. I apologize. This is all fairly technical. But the point is, Tesamu already has, I suspect copies of all my research, and has distributed them selectively to various high level researchers in the Union.

"After all, even within the Union, I have found that there is internal political maneuvering for individual power. Therefore, Tesamu trusts that each individual researcher will be too paranoid and ambitious to share their research with other researchers. Take for instance Crombel. He was a high level scientist when I first met him over a year ago. That was when the Infected attacked that hospital. You would have heard the lie that it was a mentally ill man who later committed suicide.

"However, because of his effective political maneuvering, I understand that he is now a high ranking elder. I suspect that many of the elders don't even know that he has so much power… And I don't mean political power. I mean that he fought on a relatively equal level with me for several minutes. If I had more time, I could have overpowered him. But I enjoy taking my time in combat. It worked to my detriment that time, and he escaped."

"Frankenstein…" Raizel said serenely.

"Yes, Master?"

"You're rambling."

"Ah, of course… My apologies, Shinwoo… My point, of course was that although no one researcher has all of my research, the fact that the Union at large has it is detrimental. I got a flash drive back with all of my research on it. But I can't afford to allow the Union to have any more of my research. It would be unlucky at best and dangerous at worst. I can assure you that I have updated and improved my scientific method since then, and if they got a hold of it, it could spell disaster for the world.

"Besides, I'm a very private individual, and prefer not to share my research. I am a scientist, after all… Ahahahahaha!"

"I see… You needn't worry, Principal Lee. I won't tell a soul."

"I believe you. Now, your day is almost over. And from now on, I want you to do three times the exercise that you do now… And I want you to do it both in the morning… And in the evening. How much were you doing before?"

"100 kilometers, and 30,000 of everything on each hand and/or foot."

"Excellent. Then I want you to do 300 kilometers in the morning and in the evening, and 90,000 of everything… Actually, let's round that up to an even 100,000… How does that sound?"

"Excruciatingly painful, Headmaster…" Shinwoo said honestly.

"I'm so glad we agree! Then it's settled. Time to go home. If you want to finish your exercises before bedtime, that is.

"By the by, I also want you to be able to run no less than 10 kph lower than the speed of sound by the time we meet on Sunday. I also want you to employ two new ways to garner biomass while still remaining under the radar. With all the biological material in the city, it shouldn't be too hard. By the way, do you know where the city landfill is?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, I thought it should be obvious. If you were… Say to take biomass from the landfill, you would be killing two birds with one stone. One, you would be getting rid of a lot of refuse, and two, you would be getting a lot of biomass. It would be a real public service."

"I see… If Rai can also absorb biomass, why can't he do that?"

"Would you really ask one of the most distinguished leaders in the world to use trash for something like sustenance? Master should only have the best sources of biomass. In fact, I'm certain that an intelligent human such as yourself could find numerous ways both for Master and for you to get biomass. Would you do that for my Master?"

"Sure! Rai is my friend as well. I'm glad to help him… Of course, electricity is energy, so he could absorb lightning to get bioenergy. That would allow him to evolve himself. There's also trees, grass, park benches, moss, flowers, really anything green… They're all biological, and could be turned into biomass factories.

Furthermore, any human or animal body could be used to generate excessive bioenergy. Take the electricity created by the Central Nervous System, and use some of his power to magnify it exponentially. Assuming he doesn't go overboard and kill the poor person, he'll be able to absorb the excess bioenergy. That said, he could turn them into a bioelectricity factory and use them over and over again. The only potential downside would be the possible ethical issues."

"Excellent. You're beginning to think like a real biouser. Now, go, do your exercises, and make sure you don't forget to do your homework. You may know everything the teachers know. But you shouldn't drop out of high school so easily."

"Of course, Principal Lee… See you tomorrow."


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty

Shinwoo walked through the park, briefly touching different trees, and infusing them with a relatively small amount of programmed biomass, programming them to spontaneously produce biomass every day so that they would be an eternal source of biomass for him. He had already increased his automatic biomass production in his own body. His body produced a good amount of biomass in a single day, now.

However, if he could make external biomass factories, he could easily have an infinite source of biomass to upgrade himself. After a while, it would only be continuing to improve that which could already be considered beyond perfect by human standards.

But he not only transformed the trees, he summoned the rats in the city, believing that there would only be between 300 and 500 rats. But when the rats arrived, there were well over 2,000, and he sensed that many of them were getting ready to give birth.

Shinwoo calmed the rats, and they laid down in front of him, completely docile. Thereafter, he released a huge tentacle and absorbed all of them, infusing each of them with biomass, programming them to produce their own biomass so that they could sustain him occasionally.

After he finished arranging his biomass factories, he went out for his evening run. He began running, and found that he was already running close to the speed of sound. Already, he was close to what Frankenstein had demanded of him. He finished the 100 kilometers in barely over five minutes. The wind burn was stinging by the time he was done, but he was proud of his improvement.

He allowed himself to heal, and then went home to do his exercises, which took much longer. Unfortunately, in giving the rats this insane procreation ability, he had not thought about the long run. Even now, they were multiplying rapidly, creating huge numbers of offspring, which increased in amount by the day as the offspring also procreated. It was really terrifying, and soon, the city would be completely overrun by rats… Assuming nobody did anything.

"Hi, Seira… I know it's a school night, but… I really wanted to see you…" Shinwoo said, smiling sheepishly at Seira, who blushed lightly and stepped back to let Shinwoo in.

"The others are already here…"

"Oh… Um… Maybe I should…"

"Please, they said they wanted to talk to you. You have apparently been avoiding them of late… Without giving them a reason."

"I-I… Okay… Shinwoo said, resigning himself to at least explain something to them. He walked in with Seira, smiling nervously at his friends.

"Shinwoo! I… Didn't think you would be here tonight… Are you okay? You've been avoiding us lately…" Ikhan said, seeming hurt.

"Neglecting your friends is very inelegant… You were never terribly elegant, Han Shinwoo, but you've sunk to a new low of late." Regis added. Yuna nodded. Suyi wasn't there that night, as she was still away on the modeling job. She had sent a letter that she would be back within the month.

"I'm sorry… I… Need you to promise me that you won't go looking into this… If you promise that, I can at least explain something."

"What? I guess so… Of course we won't look into it." Yuna said, and Ikhan nodded, though he was also a little suspicious. Shinwoo nodded, and reached out his hand, a huge tentacle extending from it, and absorbing the biological trash from the trash can.

His friends gasped again, Yuna seeming to lose the strength in her legs, collapsing onto the couch.

"W-what… How…?" They looked to Frankenstein, who always seemed to be able to answer their questions. However, he said nothing. Nor did any of the others. This was Shinwoo's question to answer.

"I… My father died… He was killed. It wasn't investigated by the police because there's no body to find. But after he died, I gained these powers… I…"

"Wait… You gained the power to absorb trash?"

"No! I can absorb any biological material. Watch…" Shinwoo said, focusing and pointing to some crumbs on the floor. He used his tentacles to absorb the crumbs.

It was ultimately a waste of his power, but to demonstrate that he could absorb almost anything, he felt obliged to.

"Um… Um… And… H-how did… Did your fath…"

"How did my father's body disappear? Someone with the same power that I have absorbed him. I can't explain everything. It would be dangerous to do so.

"But… Just know that there are some things out there that can't be explained by modern science…"

"You mean like how Hyung can throw plates and Oppa can catch them in midair? You mean like how they probably have had human enhancement done on them. There's no way to explain the level of enhancement that's been done on them. But I did some research on this organization that's existed in the shadows for almost 1,000 years.

"Frankly, I wish you had told us about this before… We could have helped you." Ikhan protested. Shinwoo sighed.

"I didn't want to put your lives in danger. The Union is a dangerous organization. If they know that you know about them, they'll stop at nothing to erase you. They're wolves hiding amongst the sheep.

"And when wolves want to hunt the sheep, they pretend that they're sheep as well so as not to frighten their prey." Shinwoo said, scared that Ikhan knew so much about the Union. Frankenstein seemed to be slightly worried as well, along with the modified humans and Raizel. Although it was hard for most of Raizel's friends to tell that Raizel was worried, he clearly was. Shinwoo could smell the worry on him.

"Kids…" Frankenstein began.

"Normally, I wouldn't say this, but in this case, you would be happier not asking questions, not learning more. Woo Ikhan, your ability to probe into that which is hidden from 99% of the world is impressive, and shows your ability to hack effectively. However, you would have been much safer not knowing all that you now know about the Union.

"We are going to erase your memories of this night again. I do hope that this time, we will not have to do it again, as chronic use of mind control can have a detrimental effect on the mind's ability to turn short-term memory into long-term memory. Fortunately, that generally requires lifelong exposure to mind control. However, it can begin to appear as soon as ten uses of mind control in.

"I apologize for frightening you, children, but… Yes, Seo Yuna?" Frankenstein asked. Yuna blushed slightly at having her full name used.

"I… Y-you said… 'again'… Like this has happened before. That's not… True, is it?"

"It has happened… Several times… Let's see… Once when you were kidnapped by former comrades of M-21, once when you were kidnapped by… Probably three times. You really should stop looking for trouble."

"What! We weren't looking for trouble! W-were we?"

"I was joking. My point is that you need to be very careful. We have to…" Frankenstein began, but then he saw the pained look on Raizel's face.

"No, we won't erase your memories… Yet. Let's simply hope that you can not look into this. If you don't look too deeply, it might not be a problem. I'll tell you this, you're already in danger. There are agents of the Inconnu in the school.

"I let them stay there so I can keep an eye on them. But that also means that they can keep their eye on me and of course, on you. So I urge you to show caution, even more so than usual. Shinwoo is becoming quite formidable and can likely protect you if he is with you. But that doesn't help you if he is not there. Do you understand?" Frankenstein asked. The kids nodded.

"Good… Now, Shinwoo, if you would escort them home, I would appreciate it. Master can go, too if you would like…"

"No, it's fine. I'll take them…" Shinwoo said, waiting for Ikhan and Yuna to get ready, go through the usual protests about not helping to clean up, and put their shoes on.

"Well, here you go, Ikhan… Have a good night." Shinwoo said with a grin.

"Thanks for taking us home. Hey, Shinwoo, are you sure everything is alright with you?"

"Yeah… Why wouldn't it be?" Shinwoo replied, surprising Ikhan slightly.

"Well, your father was killed. I mean, I didn't know him that well, but he was a nice man…"

"Yeah, I'm… Upset about his death… But I can't bring him back."

"Even with your powers, you can't?" Yuna asked. Shinwoo laughed about this.

"No. If I knew absolutely everything about him, if I knew everything about him that he knew and more, I might be able to make a copy of him. But I didn't know him too well either. Anyway, it's late. I have to get up really early these days to exercise. Headmaster's orders."

"O-okay… See you tomorrow." Ikhan said, going into his apartment building. Shinwoo looked at Yuna and the two walked away, toward her house. As they came up to Yuna's apartment, Yuna smiled at Shinwoo.

"Thank you… Do you know who it is that Principal Lee was talking about?"

"W-what do you mean?"

"I mean the agent who's in our school…"

"Oh… Well, it's that new kid, Tesamu… I thought that was obvious. He transferred into my class because he killed my father, and infected me with Blacklight, and now, I'm pretty sure he wants me to join his organization. Weird, right? He's got a strange way of thinking…"

"Wait? You mean that blonde person? He seemed so nice… I… He's really handsome, too…" Yuna said, surprising Shinwoo slightly with her sudden declaration.

"I guess so… He's dangerous, though…" Shinwoo said suspiciously. Yuna nodded uncertainly.

"I-I know he's supposed to be dangerous… But… He doesn't seem like he could harm a fly. He was so kind to me. I talked with him for a few minutes, and… He's a really nice person…"

"Hold still for a moment, Yuna… I'm sorry about this…" Shinwoo said, putting his fingers up to Yuna's temple and closing his eyes.

"Sh-Shinwoo… W-what are you doing?" Yuna asked nervously. Suddenly, she shrieked as a powerful bolt went through her mind, staggering her. She shook her head.

"W-what was _that_ for!?" Yuna asked, hurt that Shinwoo had used his powers on her.

"Did Tesamu touch you at any point? Like maybe he touched your face for a second?" Shinwoo asked, his eyes narrowed, all business, now.

"Y-yes… H-he… told me I had a piece of rice on my lip and took if off for me… He was so charming… But… Oh, my God… H-he used some weird mind control, didn't he?" Yuna asked, her face falling, feeling slightly ill at the thought of being mind controlled.

"Hardly that powerful. He merely used biomass to put a mild suggestion in your brain that he was a friend. I'm not sure how far he took the suggestion. Have you been feeling… Romantically attracted to him at all? Sorry, I wouldn't ask, except he might be using you to get to Principal Lee… I can tell you everything I know later… But…"

"I-I can't explain it… I felt like he was just so handsome and attractive… I-I… He did that to me?"

"I'm not sure, exactly. But you shouldn't worry much. I destroyed the biomass that he put in your brain. It should be gone. If you start to feel any residual effects, go see Principal Lee… I'm sure he'd be able to help you better than I ever could. I'm getting better at using my power, but he's unbelievable."

"Thank you, Shinwoo… Good night…" Yuna said, smiling and hugging Shinwoo tightly again, getting her keys out and going to her door, waving good bye to Shinwoo from her window. After he was sure that she was inside, he went back to his house, did his exercises, and went to bed.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty-One

"Hey, you fucking bastard!" Shinwoo yelled, grabbing Tesamu and slamming him against the school wall with one arm, but with enough force to crack the brick.

"Oh, my. Did I do something to anger you, Shinwoo? If so, I apologize." Tesamu said smoothly. Shinwoo growled.

"How dare you attack my friends!? If you _ever_ go near my friends again, I swear I'll absorb you faster than you can say 'what?'!"

"Oh, you mean Miss Yuna. Could you let me down? I'm certain that we can come to some sort of understanding if you'll give me a chance to explain my actions." Tesamu replied, still smiling.

"What excuse could you _possibly_ have for using mind control on Yuna!?"

"Well… First of all, I would like to correct a misconception of yours. I did not use mind control on her. I merely planted the merest seed of biomass in her brain to create a minor suggestion in her mind. I was certain that she would bring me up eventually in conversation with you and Woo Ikhan, or with the Noblesse, and that you or they would catch on to what was done and rectify it.

"However, until then, the suggestion was only to develop a minor physical attraction to me. She is quite beautiful, is she not? I wouldn't mind having her as a girlfriend, even if she is only a common human… And a weak willed one at that…"

"What did you say!? How dare you!? Don't you dare talk about Yuna like that!"

"I am merely speaking the truth. If she were stronger willed, she would easily have overpowered my suggestion. Think of the suggestion that I planted in her head to be a person's voice. Now, the louder the voice, the stronger the suggestion, the more compulsion one would feel to obey it.

"After all, if someone was screaming in your ear to do something, you would probably do it, if only to get them to shut up, correct? It's the same thing here. But this 'suggestion' was little more than the lightest whisper. It would require excellent hearing just to hear the whisper, and any background noise would easily drown the whisper out. She really is either very weak-willed, or incredibly vapid and dim-witted. Perhaps that is merely a common aspect of modern day youth.

"Unconcerned with anything besides the latest trends and what make up to wear, and who's dating whom… I do wish I could understand this fascination with the shallow and the uninspired. The Professor was so much more fascinating than any young people today are. Could you perhaps explain it to me?" Tesamu asked unenthusiastically, completely ignoring the fact that Shinwoo was seething with barely concealed rage at Tesamu's badmouthing of his friends.

"Look… If you come near my friends, I'll…"

"You'll what, Han Shinwoo? You'll kill me? I can see that you would if you could. But frankly, you aren't capable of such a feat. I have more than 800 years of experience on you. You've no idea what I could teach you if you would just open your mind and allow me to help you. I really do want to help you, but… Thus far, you've been unreceptive to me."

Shinwoo growled and slammed Tesamu against the wall again, cracking it even further, and breaking several ribs in Tesamu's ribcage. The ribs quickly healed, though.

"I will kill you… I don't care how hard it is, or how long it takes… But… Seira!" Shinwoo yelped, dropping Tesamu to the ground.

"It is almost time for class… I was instructed by Principal Lee to tell you to finish with your intimidation of Tesamu and hurry to class."

"I'm done… Remember me, bastard! I won't let you touch my friends!" Shinwoo snapped angrily. Tesamu nodded, bowing politely to Shinwoo as they went to class.

When lunch came around, Tesamu came up to Shinwoo and asked to speak to him privately.

"Are you certain that I can't help you learn to control your Biomass Manipulation better? With my help, you could make nearly anything with no more biomass than would fit in your hand. Right now, you have a somewhat uneven level of expertise. I made it possible for you to absorb information, skills, etcetera without absorbing the person.

"However, you still require a relatively large amount of biomass in order to create anything, or to improve yourself. It doesn't have to be that way. With more skill, you could enhance your physical strength and invulnerability exponentially with no more biomass than a fingernail. You could create a dragon out of a handful of biomass. I think you really don't understand how efficient Biomass Manipulation can be. How large do you think the average dragon is?"

"I dunno… That's Ikhan's area of expertise. He's the expert at that Dungeons and Dragons stuff."

"Figure that a typical Colossal dragon is about 30 feet by 30 feet. However, size is not necessarily the main issue for a dragon. A dragon needs power. It needs strength, speed, maneuverability with its wings. A user of Biomass Manipulation could easily create a dragon… Well, an experienced user could. You, sadly don't have that experience yet. But you could gain the experience with me."

"No. I warned you not to come near me or my friends again. You have no business with me. I'm not joining the Union. My father joined, and you Consumed him. What does that say about what you do to your supposed allies?" 

"That is specious reasoning. I consumed him because he turned against the Union. He said he was going to leave the Union. Nobody leaves the Union. There are those who try. But in the vast majority of cases, we catch them and execute them as traitors."

"But what gives you the right? Sure, my dad has made mistakes, but he's not evil. Unlike you."

"I am not evil. The Union has fallen far from its noble roots. Originally, the Union was intended to protect humans, to be there for humans when the Nobles could not or would not intervene. We had supporters amongst humans, amongst Werewolves and amongst the Nobles, even. We were powerful, and we intended to use that power for good.

"But we became arrogant. I want to try to change that. But I'm only one of the thirteen Elders. There's only so much I can do. Even though I'm the top Elder of the Union, I cannot change anything by myself. That's why I want your help. That's why I want the Professor's help. Between the three of us, I believe that we can bring about the change that I desire in the Union, bring it back to its noble heritage. We needn't be enemies, Shinwoo…"

"I will not work with you, ever… And I can assure you that Principal Lee will never work with you, either. Now, excuse me, my lunch is getting cold."

"You don't really need to eat, you know. You're no longer human. You can keep yourself sustained on a small amount of Biomass. If you were to start running low, you might need to consume human food. But as you are, there's no need."

"You mean… I can never eat again?"

"Of course you can. But why waste your time? You also don't need to sleep, breathe, drink, or bathe. Your Biomass Manipulation can do all that for you. You can use biomass to automatically clean your body every day, and then just discard the biomass, or reabsorb it.

"And as long as you have any amount of spare biomass inside you that isn't being used to serve a direct purpose, you won't need to eat. Biomass will keep your body going. You'll never get tired. Your brain does not require rest to reset at the end of each day. Biomass will take care of that. You can program biomass to keep you consistently hydrated. You can modify your brain so you don't need sleep. You can modify your lungs, or perhaps your red blood cells so that they produce their own Oxygen.

"You're thinking way too small scale in terms of how you can modify yourself. Your ability to use biomass and the uses to which they can be put are almost limitless. For instance, what temperature does combustion happen at?"

"232.78oC."

"Correct. Do you have biomass inside you at the moment? Right now?"

"Yes…" Shinwoo replied.

"Command your brain to be able to utilize pyrokinesis." Tesamu said excitedly. Shinwoo raised an eyebrow.

"You want me to set things on fire?"

"No. I want you to command your brain to allow yourself to do so. You don't have to do it now, but know that you can do it if you want to. In fact, the uses to which you've been putting your Biomass Manipulation are so limited as to almost be laughable. Even one of the Elders, who only has the Redlight version of Biomass Manipulation could modify circles around you. You're really thinking inside the box."

"Fine…" Shinwoo huffed, thinking hard for a moment. Suddenly, something clicked in his mind, and he imagined a fireball in his hand. Suddenly, a bright blue-white flame came roaring to life in Shinwoo's hand. Shinwoo yelped and shook his hand, extinguishing it.

"Excellent, Han Shinwoo… You may have used more energy than you needed to in order to create fire, but from what I could tell, your fire was burning at around 4,000oK.

"If you want it to burn at a lower temperature, command it to do so. Set a flame in your hand again. You won't burn yourself. Good, keep it steady. Now, imagine the flame getting larger. See it growing? Now, imagine it getting hotter, command it to be 6,000oK." As Shinwoo did this, the air around the flame began to burn as well due to the sheer heat of the flame. It started off bright blue, then receded to a darker blue, then to orange as it got further out.

"Okay, now, put out the flame. Just… Order it to go out. You've done well enough for today. You've also made yourself potentially highly resistant to fire. Since you can now control fire at will, if you can see the fire coming, you can control it. Consider other elements to be about the same. Plasma, which oxygen will turn into at high enough temperatures, electricity, etcetera.

"Now, we have to go back to class. I apologize for taking up your lunch period. Here's reimbursement for the money you wasted on lunch. Have a good day, Han Shinwoo. And, I promise that I, Tesamu will not touch, talk to, or approach your friends except when unavoidable such as in situations when I am in class with them. My word is my honor, Han Shinwoo." Tesamu said, hurrying off to class just as the first bell rang.

As Han Shinwoo walked to class, he thought hard in his mind about telekinesis, then focused on a rock, and watched it lift off the ground in front of him. Laughing with satisfied humor, he went to gym class, where he knew that they would likely be playing soccer again. Raizel would likely abstain, but as he was essentially exempt from all classes, it would not be brought up.

"Shinwoo! Hurry up!" The teacher called. Shinwoo nodded and ran over. The teacher noted that he had an almost animalistic grace about his stride that he seemed to lack before. Shinwoo had been right. It was soccer that day. He joined one of the teams, and was sent over to be goalie. Shinwoo never minded being goalie, but he would have preferred to be on the field.

He paid close attention, though, and soon, the ball came flying at him and he jumped up into the air, twisted and kicked the ball all the way across the field into the other goal. Both teams gaped at Shinwoo's sudden prowess. He was usually half asleep at this time, or not paying attention. But now, he was razor sharp and alert. He had just jumped four feet in the air to block a ball, and kicked it more than a football field away with such great accuracy. For a moment, the field was silent. Then his team cheered, and began to play again.

Shortly, the other team began to play as well, and the game went on. At one point, Shinwoo joined his team on the field, and led the team to victory with ease. When they went back to class, he was stopped by a well groomed and well dressed man with straight black hair combed back and a thin beard wearing dark sunglasses.

"Hey, you Han Shinwoo?" The man asked. Shinwoo looked suspiciously at the man.

"Depends. Who's asking?"

"Aha! I like your cautiousness. I'm Katsuro Moon. I'm a headhunter for the South Korean National Football Team. I was watching you play. Your ability to play both defense and offense is extraordinarily impressive. I wanted to ask if you would be interested in joining our team. We could pay for any college education you wanted, find you all the martial arts instructors you could ever need…

"We know how involved in martial arts you are. Everything you could ever want could be yours…"

"Ahaha… Thank you for the offer. But I'm enjoying my high school life as it is right now. I already have everything I want. But I appreciate it."

"Well, if you ever change your mind, here's my card…" Katsuro Moon said, handing Shinwoo a business card. Shinwoo bowed politely, and took the card, putting it in his pocket. Just at that moment, though, Seira came up to Shinwoo, kissing him and hugging him tightly, blushing slightly. She wasn't used to being this expressive in public. She was usually as expressive as a wax statue in public. She smiled occasionally, but she rarely showed much emotion, or raised her voice.

Even the talent agent blushed when he saw her, understanding now that Shinwoo would likely never have any intention of leaving someone as gorgeous as Seira.

"Hey, Seira… I was just coming to class. See ya later, Mr. Moon…" Shinwoo said, though Katsuro doubted that Shinwoo had any intention of seeing him again.

"Who was that?" Seira asked, seeming just slightly jealous. It was unusual for Seira to portray her opinions so openly like that. She had opinions just like anyone else. But she was very shy and introverted, and tended to be quiet around other people. Very traditional people would consider her the perfect woman. She rarely spoke unless spoken to. She didn't show her emotions openly. She was polite and elegant. She seemed like a woman that belonged 200 years in the past.

It was ironic, really that she was 220 years old, and yet was still considered very young by her race's standards. Nobles could live eternally. Raizel was living proof of that. He was over 2,000 years old. The Previous Lord was also very old by Noble standards. Most other Nobles were still children in comparison.

"He… Just wanted to offer me a sports career. He saw me playing football, and he wanted me to join the National Team. I… I said no… I have everything I want right here. Money, fame… Mansions… I don't need any of those things. I've got the love of a beautiful, smart, strong, powerful woman. I have my friends, and more than that, I have the ability to protect them, now. I can keep my friends and loved ones safe. I was so weak when my father died. I couldn't do anything.

"But… Although it's sort of ironic, that moment allowed me the chance to have all the power I could ever need. I never asked for the power, but now that I have it, I swear that I'll use it well, to protect those that matter to me. What is that little club that M-21, Tao and Takeo are in?"

"RK-5…"

"Yeah. I'll join that. I'll be one of his knights as well. I've started having weird dreams lately about Rai and Principal Lee saving my friends and I on many occasions. I owe him my life. And my life is here. I could never leave it."

"I'm glad you decided that. It would be sad to see you go, Han Shinwoo…" Seira said, a gentle smile gracing her face, her blood red eyes lighting up, driving the breath from Shinwoo's lungs. As they walked into their classroom, and sat in the back, where Shinwoo almost promptly fell asleep. He had no need to listen. He had learned all of what was in the class by touching his teacher just a short while ago, and it was now permanently in his mind.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty-Two

Shinwoo sighed, and used his Biomass Manipulation to give himself hydrokinesis and cryokinesis. The cryokinesis, he made so powerful that it could reduce temperatures to Absolute Zero (-459.67oF/-273.15oC). He also made his pyrokinesis more powerful so that it could elevate temperatures to Absolute Heat. This, unfortunately used up a fair amount of biomass. Already, he was beginning to run low.

But the trees he marked had been producing biomass for several days, now. So, before he made his way to Frankenstein's place, he stopped by the park, and tapped several of the trees, taking spare biomass from them. He could already see the effect on them. They had begun to grow larger. The fortunate thing was that most people didn't notice something out of the ordinary unless it was placed right in front of them. So, after he drained the trees of excess biomass, he made his way to Frankenstein's.

When he got there, though, the door was answered by Artemis, who bowed politely and stepped back to allow Shinwoo entrance.

"Hey, is Principal Lee here?"

"Of course… He says to start running now. You have to run 300 kilometers. He says that you need to program an internal odometer so that you automatically know how far you've run." Artemis said. Shinwoo nodded, and concentrated, closing his eyes and suddenly, feeling a little screen click on in his head. He also went further, and added a calorie meter on it to see how many calories he burned along with being able to switch screens to counting the number of pushups or situps or otherwise he had done.

It was really an all purpose meter.

"Do you want someone to run with you, Shinwoo?"

"Nah, I'm able to run almost three times the speed of sound… 2.9104 times, actually. I don't think anyone could keep up with me. Nothing personal."

"I understand. Just tell me, Han Shinwoo… How did a moron like you get so damn lucky as to get a gorgeous, intelligent, powerful, demure girlfriend like Seira? She's the perfect woman, and you're just…"

"I'm just me… I know…" Shinwoo laughed. "I've been asking myself that ever since she agreed to go out with me.

"I couldn't tell you why she agreed if my life depended on it. But, I'm not gonna knock it. I gotta get going. The Boss will get irritable if he has to wait. Later…" Shinwoo said, shooting off at full speed, using an immediate sound dampening wave to almost completely eliminate the sonic boom that he would have otherwise made. Running through the streets at top speed, he made excellent time, getting back in just over 5 minutes. As he walked back in, Frankenstein looked at his watch, nodding in approval.

"Excellent work, Han Shinwoo. How fast were you running, by the way?" He asked.

"2.9104 times the speed of sound. And thank you." Shinwoo replied. Raizel looked up at this, and nodded as well before going back to his tea.

"Very good, 3,565.37 kilometers per hour. Your skin should be peeling off in places at least from going so fast." Frankenstein said with a cheerful laugh.

"I've hardened my skin so that the wind resistance won't flay me alive. True, I can regenerate almost as fast as it could flay me. But I happen to like my skin. So, my skin is almost as strong as iron, now. I'm working to make it even stronger. I'm… Trying to make it strong, but also still soft like normal skin. Otherwise… It would become obvious pretty fast that I wasn't normal."

"I'm impressed, Han Shinwoo. What have you done about the sources of biomass? I trust you've found sources other than rats to provide you with vital biomass?"

"Yes, I have. Trees."

"Trees? Elaborate, if you would?" Frankenstein asked, continuing to scribble in his diary, no doubt notes about his, Shinwoo's, progress.

"Well, you see… A tree's biomass is really no different from an animal's biomass. After all, it all goes into one collective. So, I touched a number of trees, and hyperactivated their growth. So they're producing more biomass at a much faster rate, now.

"I go to the park, most days, now. I bring a pen and a notebook, and touch the trees, closing my eyes. That way, to anyone looking at me, it just looks like I'm maybe doing a school project. But what I'm really doing is turning the trees into biomass factories. And, at the end of each week, I tap a number of the trees, depending on how much mass I need for said week.

"I can go back during the week to tide myself over, or not, as I need it. But, as it is, many of the trees have grown noticeably. I've noticed, anyway, that several of the trees have grown several feet in the past few days. I can immediately tell which trees are 'mine' by smelling them. Not pheromones, but just the sheer amount of biomass in them."

"Ingenious. I can't believe I overlooked that. Out of the mouths of babes."

"Dude, are you hitting on me!? I don't swing that way!" Shinwoo snapped, flinching away from Frankenstein, who laughed hysterically at this.

"Oh, no… It's just a saying. Basically, young people often have wisdom that older people lack."

"I see…" Shinwoo said. Then, "So, what's next?"

"Well, 1,000,000 of each exercise, including grip strengthening for each hand, one legged squats, and ankle strengthening for each leg… Like this…" Frankenstein said. He never did know the name of each exercise, but he could do them and teach them just fine.

He went up onto the ball of one foot, then did it again and again.

"After that, 1,000,000 foot taps on each foot. I've worked on a room all my life that never quite had that final touch. But I believe that you can do it. It needs to be a room in which time moves differently from the outside world. That way, you could spend two years in that room, and only a day would go by outside.

"Of course, you would need clocks in there that tell time accurately for the outside world. Otherwise, sleeping, and eating could be an issue. Do you understand? I believe that you can make that room a reality. We could spend years training inside that room, and only hours would go by outside.

"I've sealed the room. It pumps in oxygen from tanks, but is essentially airtight. It's perfect, if I do say so, myself."

"I see… I'll take a look at it. I'm not sure I have enough biomass for a project that big. But I can try."

"Well, then, we'll have to make the exercises all fit into one day. Go, now. We're wasting daylight." Frankenstein said, sending Shinwoo downstairs.

After Shinwoo had finished his exercises, six hours later, he went into the combat room with Yuizi. The former member of Cerberus looked impassively at Shinwoo, taking out a pair of katanas that Frankenstein had designed for her. They were made of a material that Yuizi didn't recognize. It was ultra-light, but she tested the strength, and it was stronger than steel.

They had been made in the same way that traditional katanas were made, by folding the metal. But the edge was different. It seemed like it was sharp enough to cut through steel or concrete if she wanted it to. So she swung her swords, and got into her battle position.

"Your name is Yuizi, right?" Shinwoo asked. Yuizi nodded.

"You ready, then, Yuizi?"

"You needn't wait for me to be ready. I was trained to prepare in a split second." Yuizi said, leaping in the air, flipping and kicking at Shinwoo, who blocked with his forearm, grabbing Yuizi's ankle to try to absorb her knowledge. Yuizi twisted, though and cut Shinwoo's wrist deeply, jumping off of his hand and landing, striking at Shinwoo again, who created an ultra dense bar out of biomass.

Shinwoo batted the sword away, then traded blows with her again. He had no skill with a sword. That was what he was hoping to gain today. After all, if he could have the level of skill that Yuizi had with a Japanese sword, it wasn't exactly necessary. His best fighting was done with his bare hands, and improvised weapons. He had proven that he could turn almost anything into a weapon.

After a few more high speed blows, Shinwoo ducked and slid along the floor, slamming his bar into Yuizi's legs. He knew that she had high speed healing, and if she needed help, he could use some biomass to accelerate her healing factor. He felt like Deadpool at the moment, completely immortal. He knew inside that such an attitude would get him in trouble. But he couldn't help it, really.

Yuizi hissed as the bar made contact with her shins, and Shinwoo grabbed her wrist, pulling himself up and flipping the pair of them. Yuizi ended up on her stomach, and Shinwoo touched her forehead with his thumb and began taking the skill that he wanted.

She had skill in many martial arts. Jujitsu, Ninjutsu, Krav Maga, Capoeira, Tae Kwon Do, Pressure Point Martial Arts, Judo, Naginatajutsu, Niten Ichi-Ryu, which incidentally was the martial art he was searching for. He began to extract the knowledge. Although Yuizi resisted mentally, and Shinwoo found her resistance strong, he finally got the knowledge.

"Listen, Yuizi, I'm sorry I hurt you like that. Are your legs alright?" Shinwoo asked. Yuizi nodded, and stood up. Although she was a little bit unsteady on her feet at first, she quickly stabilized, and prepared her katanas for combat again.

"I was commanded by Frankenstein that I must now train you in the proper application of Niten Ichi-Ryu. You have the skill. But proper application is a different matter entirely."

"Okay…" Shinwoo said, turning the bar into a katana, and generating another one. He prepared for battle with Yuizi. Shortly, the two had exchanged nearly a dozen blows in less than five seconds. Frankenstein watched from the outside through the closed circuit camera, impressed by Shinwoo's sudden increase in prowess. He had seen Shinwoo go from being a strong martial artist, but still a normal human to being a juggernaut of strength and strategy.

Shinwoo had outmaneuvered Yuizi. Suddenly, the camera shook. Shinwoo shouted at Yuizi, well, it was more of a roar, and a huge explosion happened, rocking the entire room. Frankenstein's eyes widened. Shinwoo had just made a sonic boom with his voice, and Yuizi was staggering.

"Alright, you two. I think you can call it quits for now. I'll send down the next person. Who would you like to fight?"

"Hmm… Muzaka, I think… I wanna see what he's like to do battle with."

"Ahahaha… I'm not sure you're ready to face him. He's one of the oldest Werewolves in existence. How old are you, Muzaka?"

"Well… I'm young compared to your master… I'm only about 4,000 years old. Isn't Raizel around 6,000?"

"Something like that. Still, Muzaka is quite experienced in combat. You would have to use every milliliter of skill you had to defeat him."

"I'm prepared to do that."

"And, if you beat me, I'll come quietly as they say. I'll let you take the knowledge from me. That will be your prize." Muzaka said with a good natured laugh.

"You don't actually _steal_ the knowledge, do you? I'll still have it for myself? I'm not gonna end up an empty jar, am I?" Muzaka asked, slightly concerned now.

"You'd be the first."

"Excellent. Be right down. Ooh, boy, this'll be fun!" Muzaka said, but was stopped by Raizel, who grabbed his wrist and looked him deep in the eye.

"…"

"I understand, Raizel. I won't go too hard on him." Muzaka said, taking the elevator down to the bottom level, and preparing to do battle with Shinwoo. Odds were good that he wouldn't even have to go into Werewolf form to fight him.

"Are you ready… Say, how old are you, Shinwoo?" Muzaka asked. Shinwoo raised an eyebrow.

"18. Why do you ask?"

"Well, you just seem so young to be so incredibly powerful. I don't want to see the power go to your head. From what Raizel has told me, you were quite strong for a human. But as a… What do you call it? A Biouser? You're transcendent in terms of power.

"I'm concerned. I have seen a number of my Clan become corrupted by power. I wouldn't like to see that happen to you."

"You don't need to worry about that. If I ever lose myself like that, I would ask that Rai kills me. I would never want to become a monster like those psychos from the Union. Now, fists up! Fight!" Shinwoo demanded. Muzaka nodded, and seemed to disappear in a flash of gray.

Suddenly, Muzaka was behind Shinwoo, his claws right in Shinwoo's side. Shinwoo growled in pain, and turned to strike back against Muzaka, but missed the ancient Werewolf. Shinwoo flipped and landed just out of the path of Muzaka's next attack, moving super fast, having accelerated himself past the speed of sound, creating a sonic boom that blasted Muzaka back, causing him to crash into the back wall. Shinwoo then approached him, punching him in the chest.

Muzaka gasped, but stood back up, already almost fully healed.

"Impressive. Good instinct. You must have trained for a long time to hone those instincts." Muzaka said, clapping. However, he disappeared again, reappearing just underneath Shinwoo, grabbing his ankle. Shinwoo kicked immediately removing Muzaka's hand, and twisting, kicking the former Werewolf Lord in the face and landing smoothly on the ground below.

Immediately, Shinwoo moved, dodging another attack, then another. As he moved, he planted small amounts of biomass that would be put to use later. Finally, he smirked as Muzaka landed on one of the pieces of biomass, and had his leg frozen in Absolute Zero ice. Muzaka was incredibly strong, though, and broke free of the ice, partially transforming into his Werewolf form.

Shinwoo gasped, Muzaka's aura hitting him full force, jetting forward and slashing at Shinwoo, striking directly on the chest, ripping apart his chest, ribcage, lungs and all. Shinwoo suddenly couldn't breathe. He really needed to program his red blood cells to produce their own oxygen. That way, even if his lungs were shredded, he wouldn't be unduly hampered.

Muzaka landed on another one of Shinwoo's Biomass Bombs, and suddenly, biomass came out of it, and wove around him. Although Muzaka attempted to get out of it, he found that it only started to wrap tighter. So, Muzaka relaxed his body, and suddenly, he went into his Werewolf Form, and the biomass burst, and Muzaka tore out of the bindings, striking Shinwoo again, rending his arm and leg from his body with the practiced ease of one of his age.

A roar came from Muzaka's mouth, so guttural that it even gave Shinwoo pause. But Shinwoo created two swords out of biomass and struck at Muzaka again, slashing at him, and then reabsorbing the swords, and tackling Muzaka, biomass tentacles of significant density and strength coming out of his arms and body, wrapping around Muzaka, dropping him to the ground. Muzaka struggled mightily, but this time, it wasn't nearly so easy to break the bonds because they kept getting stronger.

Soon, Muzaka tried to revert to his human form rapidly, and due to the loss in size, he managed to slip from the bonds, and struck Shinwoo in the face, breaking his nose, and grabbing him by his neck, tackling him, going back into his Werewolf form, gnashing at his face. Shinwoo managed to keep Muzaka off of him, then kicked the ancient Werewolf in the stomach, sending him flying across the room.

Shinwoo's problem was that he was beginning to run out of biomass. He attempted to make judicious use of the last of his biomass by enhancing his speed even further, along with his strength and durability. That way, he could continue to fight for longer, and transmuted his blood cells to oxygen factories so that he would never need to breathe, and finally even stronger skin. Now, he used a heavy elbow drop on Muzaka to bring him down. However, he missed, and Muzaka grappled him, seeing that he was running low on energy.

This had been a high energy battle, but Muzaka had come out on top, and couldn't be stopped so easily, least of all by a man so green as Shinwoo. Shinwoo was an exceptional person, being able to defeat Clan Leaders, and experienced modified humans as he had. But he had a while to go before he could defeat one as powerful and experienced as Muzaka.

Shinwoo gasped, feeling his head spinning. Soon, he passed out. When he woke up, he found himself lying on Frankenstein's couch. Frankenstein smiled cheerfully.

"I'm deeply impressed, Han Shinwoo. You handled yourself admirably. Frankly, we knew you would lose against one as experienced as Muzaka."

"But, you still gave me a run for my money. I could have defeated you much faster if I had gone into my Werewolf form immediately. But what fun would that be? So, you didn't win my combat knowledge. But you got some experience of your own today, didn't you?" Muzaka asked with a cheerful grin. Shinwoo nodded, sitting up, feeling a bit better just from resting.

"I need some biomass. I'm going to the park."

"Very well. I got some excellent data from watching your battle. Enjoy the rest of your day." Frankenstein said. Shinwoo nodded, standing and getting his shoes on, hurrying to the park. He didn't use supersonic speed, but he went only slightly faster than maximum human speed to avoid arousing suspicion.

Once he got to the park, he rested for a little bit before going around to various trees, and collecting biomass from each of them. The trees that he had turned were really quite full. They had become much larger due to the excess biomass in them. He drained them of the excess slowly so that people didn't notice, and eventually, he felt much better, and he began to redistribute the biomass to various other trees.

Thereafter, he extended a telepathic command to all the rats in the city. He had recently seen a huge increase in the number of rats. They had become far more prolific, and the fact that they bred far more often, and far quicker was an issue, so now he had to deal with the problem. Soon, hundreds of thousands of rats were surrounding him. He took a deep breath, and extended a wide tentacle, and began absorbing all of the rats. He knew that not all the rats had come, but there could only have been ten or so rats left in the city.

With his work done, plenty of biomass in his system, he went back to his apartment, and sat down to meditate. He only meditated for about thirty minutes before standing back up, and deciding to go visit his friends. As he went to Ikhan's place, he programmed high level electrokinesis, and flight into himself, along with the ability to generate plasma, and telekinesis.

This barely put a dent in his biomass pool, he knocked on Ikhan's door. Soon, the short young man came to the door, smiling at Shinwoo.

"Hey, Shinwoo… I thought you would have been on a date with Seira if you were done with your Biomass Manipulation training with Principal Lee."

"No, I… Just needed the rest of the day off. You wanna go to the PC Bang?" Shinwoo asked. Ikhan nodded.

"Let's call Yuna, see if she wants to go with us. We can invite Tesamu as well if you want. She seems to have a thing for him. I got a text from her saying that she was going on a date with him yesterday. Did you get that text as well?"

"No…" Shinwoo said, his blood running cold. "No. I-I never got any such message."

"Hm… That's surprising. Actually, she said something about not saying anything to you. Did… Did you have a fight with her?"

"Not really… Maybe we should invite Tesamu to come as well. Do you have his number? Cuz I sure don't."

"I can get anyone's number, Shinwoo. I'm a master hacker." Ikhan said with a confident smirk. Shinwoo sighed. This was going to get worse before it got better. If Yuna was actually dating Tesamu, now, this had gone too far. He knew he really should talk to Frankenstein, and Raizel, but he wanted to try to handle it, himself. He was just a bit afraid that he would fail, and his friends would be hurt.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty-Three

"Hello, Han Shinwoo, Woo Ikhan… How are you doing?" Tesamu asked cheerfully, his hand in Yuna's, their fingers laced. Shinwoo couldn't keep his fists from clenching angrily. He had tried talking to Tesamu. He had tried threatening him. Tesamu had promised that he would leave Shinwoo's friends alone. He had given his word of honor, and he had just severely broken it.

"It's great to see you again… I'm sorry we ended on such bad terms last time, Han Shinwoo…" Tesamu said, ignoring the fact that Shinwoo was grinding his teeth so angrily.

"You guys ready to go to the PC Bang?" Ikhan asked. Yuna and Tesamu nodded. Shinwoo growled quietly, but nobody but Tesamu seemed to notice it.

 _"You see, Han Shinwoo? You would do best to give up now. I can get to your friends, your family, your loved ones, anyone. There is nobody I can't get to. I respect the Professor. But he's living in the past. The time when Nobles ruled the world is over. The time of humans has long since begun. We control everything. The Union is nearly all powerful."_

 _"I see that. That doesn't mean I can't try to kill you, Tesamu. How dare you control Yuna like this? She's a person, not an object to control someone else."_

 _"Control her? I did no such thing. I… I do like her. She's a nice young woman, and as you can imagine, in my line of work, I meet so few. I asked her out, and… Well, she agreed. I find that I can be quite charming… Or so women tell me."_

 _"You… You really have no bad intentions for her?"_

 _"Of course not. I'm not a monster. That particular use of biomass that I used before was just to get your attention. But as I said, I can get to anyone you love, everyone you care about. You should consider yourself beaten. Join us."_

 _"No. I love Seira, and she would never forgive me if I did that. And I'll never do anything to hurt her."_

 _"No? Give it time. Soon, you'll see that you can reach your full potential much faster if you join us. But, we're almost at the PC Bang. I do hope we can be friends, Han Shinwoo… I sense that you have a huge amount of biomass in you. You used the idea I gave you of the trees?"_

 _"No. Rats. I send out a telepathic message on a subconscious scale, and give a minor psychic suggestion. 99.8% approximately of the rats report to me, and I absorb them. The city was being overwhelmed by rats far quicker than before. So I took care of the problem."_

 _"Ingenious. Well, best go in. People will get suspicious."_ Tesamu said telepathically with a smile. He had been talking with the others with an easy grace the whole time. Shinwoo had accidentally been ignoring the others. He wasn't experienced enough with holding two conversations, one telepathic and one verbal to concentrate on both, or have both without concentrating too hard.

"Shinwoo… Shinwoo!?" Ikhan asked, waving his hand in front of Shinwoo's face. Shinwoo blinked, shaking his head.

"Sorry… What was that?" Shinwoo asked. Yuna scowled.

"I said that I was glad you were being so accepting of my relationship with Tesamu. I know you were angry at him about something… What was it you were yelling at him over the other day?"

"Nothing important. I'm over it. It was just a small argument we had. Let's play…" Shinwoo said.

Although Shinwoo was even better at the game they usually played, now that he had absorbed Ikhan's knowledge of the game, he was way off that day, and he was being killed left and right. Even Yuna was able to kill him pretty easily. Although Shinwoo wouldn't say why he was so distracted, Ikhan and Yuna knew that something was wrong. So, at the end of the day, Yuna asked Tesamu to go ahead of her, and she stayed behind to talk to Shinwoo.

"Listen, Shinwoo… Something is wrong. I can tell that something is upsetting you. Is it that I didn't tell you that I was dating Tesamu?"

"Why didn't you tell me? We're best friends… Did you think I would be jealous? I'm happy with Seira… Did you…"

"I knew that you had an issue with Tesamu, so, when he asked me out, I told Ikhan. I knew it would get back to you eventually… Looking back, I should have told you. You are one of my best friends. But… I didn't want a fight between you and Tesamu… I also know that Principal Lee is suspicious of him. But he's such a nice person. How could he possibly be dangerous? He doesn't look like he could harm a fly.

"I appreciate your concern, and Principal Lee's concern, but I can handle it. Tesamu has assured me that while Principal Lee's concerns aren't baseless, that I have nothing to fear from him."

"Listen, Yuna… That man murdered my father… I told you that already, didn't I?"

"You must be mistaken… There's a lot of foreigners in Korea. Any number of them could bear a passing resemblance to Tesamu.

"And I can understand that you want to blame someone. But blaming Tesamu isn't going to make you feel better. I'd like it if you could be friends with Tesamu. But if you can't, I understand. Just please don't try to break us up. I really like him…" Yuna said, her eyes narrowing slightly. Shinwoo knew now that there was some level of control on Yuna. Even if Tesamu lied, and said that he just asked her out, they barely knew each other, and Frankenstein, and Shinwoo had warned her of the danger that Tesamu posed.

There was something wrong. Tesamu needed to go. He had initially planned to try to get used to Tesamu being Yuna's boyfriend. He couldn't deny feeling a little bit jealous. But not because he still had feelings for Yuna. He had gotten over those months ago. He felt jealous because he didn't want to lose her as a friend, but he couldn't stand Tesamu. Almost immediately, his hand was on his phone. He dialed Frankenstein's number. The phone rang, and a smooth, deep voice answered.

"Hello? Principal Lee's home… How may I help you?"

"Seira? I need to talk to Principal Lee!" Shinwoo yelled, forgetting that he was talking into the phone. He heard Seira put the phone down for a moment and call Frankenstein. Soon, Frankenstein came to the phone and answered.

"Hello, Shinwoo… How are you feeling?"

"Terrible! I went to get the biomass I needed, I upgraded myself some more, I went to Ikhan's house, and I find out Yuna has a boyfriend…"

"Oh, how wonderful for her. Who…"

"No! It's not wonderful! Her boyfriend is Tesamu!"

Frankenstein stopped there, shocked at this sudden revelation.

"Tesamu? He asked Yuna out? How strange…"

"I don't think it was entirely Yuna's own choice. She's acting strange. I told her that Tesamu is the leader of the Union, and that he murdered my father, and it didn't even seem to faze her. She said I must be mistaken… And Tesamu told me 'see? We can get to anyone. Your friends, your family, your loved ones, anyone.'"

"I wouldn't worry too much about this for the moment, Shinwoo. It's likely that Tesamu used some level of control on her, whether biomass or mundane, is yet uncertain. But, I doubt she's in any immediate danger. Tesamu likely just wants a way to control you through her. Do promise that you won't attempt to assault him again. I don't want that kind of behavior in my school."

"Yes, Principal Lee." Shinwoo said, not happy with having to pretend like this, not happy with having that creep dating Yuna, kissing her, touching her… Hell yes he was jealous! He was losing one of his best friends to this monster… But he was also being protective. Maybe overly protective. Was that wrong?

But he wasn't, was he? He knew full well what Tesamu was capable of. He knew that Yuna couldn't defend herself even if she wanted to. If Tesamu decided that she was no longer useful, would he just dispose of her? Would he kill her rather than take the risk of any of the Union's secrets being spilled? True, she didn't know anything. But that wouldn't matter to a monster like Tesamu, who was more than happy to use humans as if they were toys.

"Ah, hello, Tesamu. Please, come in. Make yourself comfortable. Everyone, I think we will have to cut our visit short today. I need to have a word with Tesamu. Thank you." Frankenstein said, seeing the kids to the door, and opening it for them, bowing as they left. Afterward, he closed the door and sat down across from Tesamu, looking him directly in the eye. Tesamu flinched slightly.

He wasn't used to having people treat him as an equal, much less as if they were his superior. Frankenstein had always had that effect on him. Somehow, the man made him question himself. Perhaps it was because he still respected Frankenstein so much. He admired Frankenstein as his teacher and his former master, the one who taught him everything he now knew.

None of what the Union had now would have been possible without Frankenstein. Despite that, the man wanted nothing to do with the Union. What he didn't know, what he couldn't know was that they were inextricably linked. Frankenstein could have a position just under Tesamu himself if he wanted. He could be one of the most powerful men in the world.

But inexplicably, he was satisfied running a foolish little school, surrounded by foolish little children and serving his master, running around like a lapdog. This was not the Professor that Tesamu remembered. The man that Tesamu remembered bowed to no man. He stood proud and tall and alone. Even Tesamu had been lucky to get into Frankenstein's good graces. If he hadn't, he very well may have died, and with his death would have gone any knowledge of Frankenstein's doings.

Now, he was a puerile servant, and worthy only of Tesamu's contempt. But for some reason, he wanted to see that mad scientist again, the man who laughed maniacally as he tore to shreds his opponents and had nobody and nothing as his master, who tinkered and experimented to his heart's content and was never satisfied with what was.

"What happened to you, Professor?" Tesamu asked, tears threatening to spill from his eyes at the shadow of a man that he saw before him.

"What do you mean, Tesamu? I am still here. I could ask you the same thing. What happened to you? That you would use a kind young woman like Seo Yuna so shamelessly. Are you simply hoping to provoke Han Shinwoo? If you are, you have succeeded."

"No! What happened to the proud, defiant, unbreakable man that I used to know!? You used to stand at the top of the world, with nobody and nothing holding you down! You experimented on Nobles and Werewolves alike, and laughed at their weakness! Now, look at you…" Tesamu spat with disgust.

"You bow down in service to a man that you once scorned! You grovel in the dirt like a pathetic mutt at your master's feet, and pray that he'll throw you some scraps… How far you've fallen from your glory days."

"Everyone has to grow up, eventually. I had to take responsibility for my sins. I repented by serving a man that I truly respected. And you seem to have a grave misconception. I have never had to grovel at Master's feet for anything. I willingly serve him, and he is one of the only friends I have ever really had.

"But I called you here to talk about you. I have tolerated the presence of the Union in my school because I believed that you would not abuse my tolerance. I can now see that was naive of me. I must ask now if you still have even a shred of respect for your former teacher?"

"I have nothing but respect for the man you used to be? Now? You are a shadow of your former self. You have fallen so far as to invite naught but contempt from me."

"Well, regardless, I must ask that cease all communication with Han Shinwoo, Woo Ikhan, Seo Yuna, Im Suyi, Seira J. Loyard, Regis K. Landegre, and any other Noble, Human, or Werewolf under my or my Master's ward. If you do not, serious consequences may be imminent. You would not want to meet my Dark Spear, would you?"

"You don't scare me, Professor. You can't harm me. Biomass Manipulation has made me all but immortal. There is nobody in the world who can stand in my way."

"I… Am sorry to see that you've become such a monster, Tesamu…" Frankenstein said sadly. Tesamu scoffed at this.

"You mean that I did what you never dared!? I'm willing to push the limits of what is possible! You only ever experimented on yourself and on a few Nobles and Werewolves. My willingness to experiment on a wider variety of humans means that I have done more than you were ever able to do!"

"Tesamu… I had hoped that I could speak with you rationally and fairly. But you have left me with no such option. I… am afraid that I have to expel you. Your welcome in this school has been officially worn out. Please leave. I also ask that you remove your influence from Seo Yuna."

"Oh, no… You have no idea what you're dealing with. Yuna is already mine. I could use that tiny particle of Biomass in her brain to overwhelm it completely. I could turn her into my slave if I wanted to. I doubt that even Shinwoo could do anything about it. His power is not yet as refined as mine."

"Get out. Now." Frankenstein said curtly.

Shinwoo silently sat in class, pretending to sleep. In fact, he was concentrating on modifying himself. He programmed plasmakinesis, electrokinesis, and invisibility into himself along with hemokinesis and ferrokinesis and x-ray vision, and though he wasn't fully read up on the power, he programmed vector manipulation into himself.

After programming numerous things into himself, he was slightly tired, so he began to doze off, until the bell rang for the next class, and he awoke with a start, and walked out of the room toward his next destination. While he was going there, though, he was called by Frankenstein to speak with him.

"Principal Lee, is something wrong?"

"No, nothing is wrong at all. I'm… Slightly concerned, but for now, everything is fine… For now… Is it possible that Miss Yuna could… Go stay with a relative for a while. She… Might be in danger."

"What happened!?" Shinwoo demanded.

"Calm down. I have expelled Tesamu. But, he made several threats, one of them was against Yuna. Unfortunately, he now is able to remotely control her. Now that he has a piece of his biomass inside her brain, he can control her from almost any distance. You could potentially purge the piece of biomass. But… I fear that your power would not be enough to fully rid her of it.

"I do not wish to be indelicate. But you are inexperienced in your power."

"Maybe Rai could do it? He's over 5,000 years old. And… If he is who I'm told he is, he's experienced with purging things and people."

"Yes…" Frankenstein said hesitantly, looking at his master, who stared back blankly, seeming completely impassive, but secretly worried as well about Yuna.

"But… He is not…"

"I will attempt to do so, Frankenstein…" Raizel said to Shinwoo's relief, standing just as the second bell rang. Shinwoo hurried off to his next class, while Raizel sat back down with Frankenstein, continuing to drink his tea. Sometimes, this was the only time that Frankenstein got to spend alone with Raizel.

When they were in school, Frankenstein could call Raizel down to his office, and have all day to spend with him. While they had to share the house with all those other people at night, the day was all theirs. Frankenstein, therefore, was deeply annoyed that he still had things to take care of.

"Excuse me, Miss Rhee… Could you call Miss Seo Yuna down to my office?z'

"Of course, Headmaster…" The secretary said, going on the intercom.

"Would Miss Seo Yuna please report to Principal Lee's office? Thank you." She said over the loudspeaker.

Shortly, Yuna came rushing into Frankenstein's office, huffing for air.

"Miss Yuna… There was no need for you to run all the way here." Frankenstein said with a mild laugh.

"You aren't in trouble, you know. I just needed to speak to you about something. Please, come in… Sit down. Would you care for some tea?" Frankenstein asked.

Yuna raised an eyebrow, and walked in, sitting down across from Raizel, who looked at her with a completely impassive look, then took another sip of his tea.

"Miss Yuna… It was… Brought to my attention that you were in a relationship with Tesamu…"

"I still am… He only asked me out a few days ago." Yuna said, confused at the fact that Frankenstein had used the past tense.

"Yes, well… Tesamu had a sudden issue come up, and he's had to transfer schools. Here's your tea." Frankenstein said quietly, setting a cup down in front of Yuna. She took a short sip of the tea. It was the most delicious tea she had ever tasted. It had a hint of chocolate in it, but also had mint and some other flavor that she couldn't quite place. Orange? It had the most amazing taste.

"This… This is delicious… Wait! What do you mean Tesamu left!? He would have told me! He loves me!" Yuna protested angrily. Frankenstein sighed. In the next moment, Raizel looked across at Yuna, staring right in her eyes.

"Stand." He whispered. But although his voice was soft, it seemed to resound with all the power of God, Himself. Yuna's eyes dilated, and she stood, stiff as a board.

Raizel stood, looking directly into her brown eyes, glazed over with Raizel's control. Raizel spoke again, walking over to an open space in the room.

"Approach me." He said. She nodded again, and walked over numbly to stand in front of her friend. He looked at her, touching her forehead.

"You are afflicted. I am going to purge you of the control exercised over you." Raizel said, his hand covering Yuna's forehead. Raizel breathed deeply and then breathed out. Yuna shrieked and passed out, collapsing. Raizel caught her, and eased her over to the couch.

"She will be fine… If my calculations are correct, I may have put too much energy into it, and given her a mild concussion. I will have to apologize to Shinwoo…"

"No need, Master… It was inevitable, I'm sure…" Frankenstein said with a laugh. Raizel nodded once, then sat back down and continued drinking his tea.

"Han Shinwoo…" Raizel said, walking over to Shinwoo, his hand in Raskreia's. Shinwoo started slightly. He wasn't used to Rai saying anything more than a one word response.

"Hey, Rai! Ras! How's it going, you two!? Um… Did you… Manage to help Yuna?"

"Yes…" Raizel said. Shinwoo raised an eyebrow.

"I sense a but coming…"

"I accidentally gave her a mild concussion." Raizel said.

"You… You punched her? What the hell, man!? I thought you were a man! What man punches a girl!?"

"He did not punch her, you classless lackwit!" Raskreia snapped irately, shutting Shinwoo up immediately. Even Raizel was staring at Raskreia. In fact, half the schoolyard was staring at Raskreia, who had been one of the quietest girls in school. Between her and Seira, they had hardly spoken five words to anyone that they could remember.

"R-Ras…"

"No! Shut up! Shut your overly large, slack jawed mouth, you simpleton! Raizel would never punch anyone! He used…"

She stopped as Rai put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing her hand gently, shaking his head.

 _Please do not reveal this side of yourself. You are beautiful and elegant both in body and soul, and I would not wish to see you besmirch that image of yourself._

 _"Thank you, Raizel."_

"I apologize, Han Shinwoo." Raskreia said gently, looking very upset.

"Don't worry about it, Ras. I was just surprised. I've… Never even seen you raise your voice…" Shinwoo said, still dazed at Raskreia's rather belligerent attack.

"I…" Raskreia began, lost for words now.

"Don't worry about it… See ya later… You sure Yuna is alright, Rai?"

"Yes." Raizel said simply, turning to Raskreia, no longer paying attention to Shinwoo, who walked off to the park to collect an infusion of Biomass.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty-Four

 _I think I have some biomass left. Let's see what I can make of myself…_ Shinwoo thought, thinking. He could sure use 360o vision. He also programmed teleportation, and gravitokinesis, the ability to control gravity in his immediate vicinity, Combat Perception, the ability to understand another's way of thinking and fighting in combat, and anger manipulation… If he could make his opponent enraged, they will become incautious in battle.

"Oh, I have a text message from Seira…" Shinwoo said to himself. It was Friday, so Shinwoo was happy to be off school for the weekend.

 _Shinwoo, would you like to go on a date?_

 _1900h_

 _Principal Lee's home_

"Always succinct, Seira is."

"Heeey! You goin' on a date with Seira, Shinwoo!? Lucky bastard!" Ikhan yelled, looking over Shinwoo's shoulder at the text.

"Yeah… We haven't gotten to go on a date in a while. I'm looking forward to it. Hold on."

 _Yes?_

Shinwoo smiled, and typed back.

 _Absolutely. Looking forward to it._

"Hey, Seira…" Shinwoo said, kissing her gently on the lips as he removed his shoes and went into the house. Raizel and Raskreia were sitting on the couch together, drinking their tea. They seemed to be in no hurry. The two of them were always so elegant. Raizel looked up and nodded once at Shinwoo.

Seira looked gorgeous that night as well. Her dresses were always so perfect and beautiful. Tonight, she was wearing a black dress. It had short sleeves and a lower neckline than last time. As Seira moved, her cleavage showed slightly, causing Shinwoo to feel his pants getting tighter. Seira seemed to notice something, because a small smile came to her face as she blushed slightly, taking Shinwoo's hand.

They had corresponded on what they would do for the date, and agreed that they should see a movie. Shinwoo had suggested Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Seira replied in the affirmative. As the two lovers went out, Frankenstein smiled cheerfully. Rael and Regis were hanging out with Yuna, Ikhan, and Suyi, to welcome Suyi back and Tao, Takeo, and M-21 were all out having time to themselves. Muzaka was taking Artemis on a date.

True, he was much older than she was, but she had agreed to try to get over her feelings for Seira, who had unequivocally told Artemis that she was not only not gay, but that she was already in a relationship with Shinwoo. Artemis was sad, but… Maybe she would have fun with Muzaka, who seemed like a really interesting person… And who wouldn't be, if they had 4,000 years to learn new things. He had been around since 1984 BCE.

Yuizi was out… Frankenstein hadn't asked where she was going, and she didn't volunteer it. It was neither his business, nor did it interest him in the slightest. Maybe she was out with a boyfriend or girlfriend. Maybe she was visiting her wards in the homeless community. Either way, that left only him, Raizel and Raskreia at home, and that was fine with him. It had been so long since he had an evening alone, or even with only one other person.

Shinwoo stood back and let Seira sit down in her seat in the movie theater. She hadn't asked anything about the movie. She had heard of Star Wars, of course. But she didn't want to ruin anything by asking questions about it. Shinwoo hadn't seen it yet, either, of course. As he sat down, the room went dark, and the movie started. Of course, they had to get through the commercials first. Shinwoo had asked if Seira wanted anything to eat.

She had immediately said no. She personally found the greasy and otherwise sugary food of the movie theater to be disgusting. She only got a bottle of water. Shinwoo got a big tub of popcorn. Of course, he could eat as much as he wanted and never gain a pound. It was partially due to the fact that he worked out so much, partially due to the fact that he was young, and had a good metabolism… But mostly because of his Biomass Manipulation. He dug right into the popcorn with one hand, and put his other hand on Seira's.

At the end of the movie, the two lovers walked out of the theater, hand in hand. While he had been in the theater, he had added yet another ability to his arsenal of powers. Spatial Manipulation. This allowed him to remove or add space within his immediate vicinity, essentially allowing him to close immediately in combat, seem to be 'everywhere at once', and make it exceedingly difficult for opponents to close with him.

Next, he added Gravity Manipulation to make it harder for opponents to move. Furthermore, he made his bones extraordinarily dense so that it would be almost impossible to break except maybe with a sledgehammer. And of course, he further enhanced his regeneration factor. He had been researching odd powers on the internet, and decided to research the probable science behind them. And of course, he broke into his father's house, and used his new hacking skills to take and memorize all the information from his Union databanks.

Shinwoo later gave them to Frankenstein, feeling certain that a scientist like Frankenstein could use the information. It turned out that Frankenstein had done research on those subjects as well. But he thanked Shinwoo for it, and tucked it away.

"Where would you like to go, now, Seira?" Shinwoo asked, kissing Seira, hugging her tightly as they walked down the sidewalk, in the general direction of the park.

"Hey… Now, what's a fine young woman such as you doing with a dumb looking prick like him?" A tall, wide man, much older than Shinwoo… He must have been almost 25.

"Well, I think it's obvious that we're on a date, huh, ugly?" Shinwoo asked with a smirk. Shinwoo could hear the man's teeth grinding angrily, his huge hands clenching and unclenching.

"Why would you wanna go with a limp dick like him? Come with me, and I'll show you some real fun, eh, baby? Me and my buddies'll treat ya real well."

"Excuse me. Seira is a lady. Not some slut you can just do with as you please. Let's go, Seira. No need to waste our time on him."

Seira turned and walked away with Shinwoo, but was grabbed roughly by the arm, and jerked away from Shinwoo.

"Hey, you dumb bitch! Don't you dare turn your back on me! Stupid whore!" The man screamed, causing Shinwoo to stop in his tracks, standing ramrod straight.

"Excuse me… I'm sure I misheard you, but it sounds like you just called Seira a bitch. _Plea-se_ tell me I misheard you."

"Stupid bitch can't turn her back on me!"

"I was afraid it would come to this." Shinwoo said, seeming to come upon the older man in the blink of an eye, using his spatial manipulation, jumping in the air, and kicking the man in the face.

"You EVER talk to Seira, or _any_ woman like that again, I'll hunt you down… And I'll make sure you never walk, let alone harass a woman again!" Shinwoo roared in the man's face. However, the man punched Shinwoo in the nose, sending him flying.

Shinwoo stood, and cracked his neck, the distance between the two of them disappearing again, and dodging around the man, before increasing gravity directly on the man, and decreasing his own gravity just slightly, jumping in the air from a standstill, and wrapping his legs around the man's head, flipping him over and slamming him on the ground.

"Now, _stay away_ from Seira!" Shinwoo growled. The man turned over on his back, gasping at the power Shinwoo had been able to bring to bear. Shinwoo scowled at the man, programming mind control into himself on the fly. He had researched mind control on the Inconnu databanks, and found that it was pretty simple to understand.

"Now… You will _never_ approach Seira again. If you see her on the street, you will forget that you saw her. You will go to the police and confess any crimes you may have committed. You will repeat said confession as many times as they ask, and you will repent for your egregious behavior in jail. Do I make myself clear?" Shinwoo asked, using his mind control. He found that surprisingly, the man wasn't hard to dominate. He was weak willed, despite being so obstinate.

He tried to resist Shinwoo's control, but found it to be impossible.

"Do you understand?" Shinwoo asked again. The man nodded numbly.

"I… Understand." The man muttered. Shinwoo smirked.

"And you will obey?"

"I… Will… Obey." The man said, standing.

"And of course, you will forget that I exist. You had a moment of clarity and decided to atone for your past sins. Correct?"

"Yes, sir…" The man said, his mind completely overwhelmed, turning and walking toward the police station to confess his crimes and take responsibility.

"Shinwoo… I did not know that you had mind control abilities."

"I didn't, not until I started talking to that guy. I programmed them into myself so that I could force him to obey me. I knew that he wouldn't confess to a laundry list of crimes like he undoubtedly has on his own. So… I gave him a little bit of a nudge."

"That was terribly unethical. But… Perhaps for the best. Thank you for defending me, Han Shinwoo." Seira said, embracing Shinwoo and kissing him tenderly. The two stayed like that for a little while, kissing and holding each other before Shinwoo grabbed Seira's hand and started running toward his place.

As the two lovers walked in the door, they shut it quickly, and making their way slowly to Shinwoo's room. Once they got there, again, they slammed the door. Shinwoo looked Seira directly in the eyes. Seira was turning a pale shade of pink, blushing at the knowledge of what they were about to do. This was her first time doing this. Rael had been trying to win her heart for over a decade. But she had always rejected him.

She had never even had a relationship with anyone else, much less a sexual one. Shinwoo kissed her, slowly removing her dress, inch by inch, hungrily drinking in the sight of her gorgeous, fair skinned body as it bared itself before him. Shinwoo had never done this before, either. He had tried to date a girl at his school once. But it didn't work out.

Shinwoo pulled her dress down to her waist, removing her bra, and kissing her breast as he guided her over to the bed. Seira sighed in happiness. She had wanted to take their relationship to the next level for a while now. Between Shinwoo training, and going to school, and getting used to his new power, they hadn't had much time together. But now, tonight there was nothing but them.

Seira laid down on the bed underneath Shinwoo, gasping and moaning as his lips moved from her lips, down to her cheek and jawbone, then to her shoulder, and trailing down her arm. Shinwoo's tongue then flicked her nipple, taking it between his lips and kissing it, playing with her pussy through her cotton panties. She had hardly chosen 'sexy' lingerie, but Shinwoo found it incredible all the same. Finally, his lips found their way down her chest and stomach to her pussy, kissing her clit, flicking it with his tongue.

Suddenly, Seira cried out her release, shocked at the overwhelming intensity of it. She had masturbated before, and it never felt like this. Even after the initial wave, she still felt it rippling through her entire body. Was this part of Shinwoo's powers?

"Aaahhh-ahh-ahhhhh! Sh-shhhinwoo… D-did you…"

"I'm… Not entirely sure. The last power I programmed in was nerve manipulation… I suppose that could potentially cause an uncommonly intense orgasm." Shinwoo said apologetically, taking a deep breath and slowing his power. Seira sighed with relief. That had been the most intense orgasm of her life. She had, on a few occasions been convinced to play around with Rozaria. It never got to sex. But they had kissed and played around, and even taken off their clothes.

For some reason, she hadn't expected it to be so different with a man than with a woman. Seira didn't count herself as 'bisexual' as humans called it. She wasn't sure if she would identify herself with any particular sexuality. She just loved who she loved. And that was Shinwoo. Now, she was completely naked, and she began removing Shinwoo's clothes, taking off his pants, and pulling down his underwear.

As his underwear came off, his hardened penis came out. After a moment, she licked the tip of his penis, wrapping her tongue around it, and taking it into her mouth, breathing on it and taking it deeper into her mouth. She had been reading books on how to pleasure a man, and books on tantric sex, something called the Kama Sutra. Slowly, gagging slightly, but taking time to get used to it, she buried it all the way, and began moving up and down on him.

Shinwoo gasped and moaned as Seira went down on his penis with her mouth. Finally, he felt himself getting close, and he found himself losing control. He grabbed her head and shoved it down on him, releasing directly into her throat. As she came back up, she gasped and coughed, leading Shinwoo to think that she was choking.

"Seira! I'm so sorry!" Shinwoo yelled rather too loudly. After a moment, though, Seira kissed him.

"Don't worry about it. I am fine. It is understandable." Seira said, kissing Shinwoo again, and using her hand this time to get him hard once more. After only a few strokes, Shinwoo was rock hard again, and he flipped their positions, and positioned himself at her entrance, moaning as he pushed in, moving slowly to try to make it last as long as possible. Finally, he pushed past her barrier, burying himself to the hilt inside her, growling in pleasure as he stopped.

He wanted to keep going, but he could see that Seira was in pain, so he slowed down. He didn't want to hurt her.

"Shinwoo… Please… Keep going… I'll be fine…" Seira groaned, her teeth gritted. Shinwoo wasn't certain of this, but he nodded, and began to thrust, going in and out.

It burned at first for Seira, a mild pain, but after a few minutes, it started to tingle, a warm pleasure building by the minute. She could tell that Shinwoo was using his nerve manipulation to enhance the experience. Even if it wasn't intentional, she could tell that his power was helping. She couldn't keep her focus long enough to ask him to stop, though. The sensation was incredible. As he thrust in and out, Seira cried out in ecstasy. Shinwoo seemed to be just as stricken by the ecstasy.

"Ah! S-sseira! Seira!" Shinwoo yelled out, kissing his love as he thrust into her at an increasingly fast rate. Finally, he felt himself coming close, and he expressed it as well as he could telepathically with his mind as clouded as it was with pleasure. Seira seemed close as well. Soon, Seira's walls tightened around Shinwoo for the second or third time… Seira hadn't been able to keep track, and Shinwoo came inside her, crying out his release.

Finally, Shinwoo stopped, falling onto the bed next to Seira, who was gasping for breath, trying to stay awake, but failing miserably.

"I love you, Seira…" Shinwoo whispered happily. Seira felt tears of happiness stinging her eyes. Shinwoo had been her first, and she hoped that he would be her last.

"I love you, too… Han… Shinwoo…" Seira said, passing out with her arms around him, mid-kiss.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty-Five

"Nn?" Shinwoo muttered, waking up, and looking at the clock first. It was about 0300h. But the phone was ringing. Who would be calling at that hour? What kind of idiot would think that was alright. Technically Shinwoo didn't need to sleep. But he still liked to take a nap sometimes.

"Hello? Who is this?"

"Hello, Han Shinwoo… How do you do this morning? I apologize for calling so early, but… I feel that it is important that I called you first."

"What do you want, Tesamu? I told you that I'm not joining the Union."

"You haven't heard my counteroffer." Tesamu said in his soft, but dangerous voice.

"I don't want to hear your counteroffer. I'm not joining, no matter what you say. You could offer me all the money in the world, and I wouldn't join you."

"I think you are overlooking the obvious peril of not joining. Not for you. I can't harm you… Well, not without putting myself in danger.

"But your friends. In fact, I invited your friends to have a little sit-down with me. You see, I visited your friend, Yuna at her house this previous evening. It was fortunate for me that all of your friends were there, including the computer nerd, the brown haired beauty and the fashion model. Of course, the assassin and the young lance user attempted to stop me, as was their noble obligation.

"But, of course, they didn't stand a chance against one of my prowess. I will let you talk to them to prove that they are still alive. And… They will stay alive for… One hour… At which time I will kill one each minute that you do not get here. Tell me what time you have right now. Go on, your friends aren't going to hold out forever."

"0304h."

"Excellent. That is exactly the time that I have. So at 0404h, I expect you to be here, ready to surrender to the Union. If you could bring the Professor and perhaps Muzaka as well, I would not refuse their surrender. Of course, if you refuse, I begin killing your friends. One for every five minutes that you don't show up. Now, I'm being generous here, giving you so much time between friends. Show me that you appreciate my kindness.

"Let's see… Three friends, one friend dead one minute after you show up. One friend each five minutes. That leaves you eleven minutes to save at least one friend… Oh, and I'm going to let my ex decide what order they die in… And of course… She can't choose herself. That wouldn't be much fun, right? She dies last."

"Let me talk to my friends! Now!" Shinwoo demanded angrily.

"Very well. You may speak, now, Children." Tesamu said, turning the phone to speaker.

"H-hey, Shinwoo… S-sorry I didn't listen to you. I-I guess you were r-right, huh?" Yuna asked, seeming terrified. Shinwoo could practically hear the others shaking in their shoes.

"Hey…" The others said afterward.

"Don't worry about us. Don't listen to him. He's probably lying to you, anyway. Why should you believe him, when he was willing to resort to abduction."

"Okay, time's up. Get here… You now have… 57 minutes. Meet me… At the school. Out!" Tesamu snapped, shutting off the phone. Shinwoo sighed and got up, getting dressed, and considering whether to call Frankenstein. He really should. He didn't want to bother him at 3 in the morning. But he could use all the help he could get.

"He was just worried about getting Frankenstein or the others involved in something they couldn't win. After all, Tesamu had been a Biouser for more than 800 years. That was… A long time, and he likely had powers that even Shinwoo could scarcely imagine. Shinwoo's ability to deflect vectors was powerful, but probably Tesamu had a dozen or more abilities that could either bypass it or render it useless.

Shinwoo had been working on combining several of his energy based abilities with his skill at physical combat to create an ergokinetic style of combat. Right now, he had little time. 50 minutes didn't leave much before he started killing his friends. He needed help… And fast.

 _Hey, Rai, Principal Lee… Big problem!_

 _"Shinwoo… What could be the issue at 0315h?"_ Frankenstein asked, sounding terribly tired.

 _Tesamu kidnapped my friends! He says I have until 0404h before he starts killing my friends! He's got Yuna, Ikhan, and Suyi! I don't know if I can beat him on my own! He said to bring you, and Muzaka… I-I… I'm sorry, I didn't want to involve you, but… I need help!_

 _"I understand, Shinwoo… Of course we'll help. Everyone will be there. Did he give you a location?"_

 _Yes. The school. He said that we should meet him at the school._

 _"Damn. I love my school. Why does everyone insist on destroying it? Well, all the same, I'll be there… With the whole crew."_

 _No. Don't drag the rest of them into this._

 _"They would want to be there for you and your friends. Goodbye. Wait for us by the school. We'll be there. Meet us at the front gate."_

 _I understand. See you there._

A/N:Now, from this point on, this chapter gets extremely vulgar in parts. Aspects of rape, and all that. Those who aren't interested in that, or are upset by it… Should skip this chapter. It's not the end

"Okay! I guess your 'good friend', Shinwoo has decided that you aren't worth as much to him as his freedom! Now, he still has ten minutes, but… One of you has to die. And… Your friend, Yuna gets to decide who dies first! Now, won't this be a fun game!? Let's see which one of you she loves more!" Tesamu asked, clapping once with a bright, cheerful smile. So, Yuna, darling… Which one of your friends _do_ you love more? Come on, now… You have to choose one of them.

"You can blame Shinwoo if it makes you feel better, but you'll know that you were the one who decided whose life was more valuable."

"Yuna! Let him kill me, first! Maybe you and Suyi can survive this!"

"Oh, my! What bravery! Maybe when I absorb you… And I can assure you that I will make it slow, and agonizingly painful, I'll absorb some of your courage!" Tesamu said.

"Wait! I just had an inspiration… Maybe you want to give your friends… A little more time… I can't guarantee that they'll have much more, but, hey, every minute counts in your human lives, right? Maybe you'll do them that favor?"

"Yes, anything!" Yuna pleaded. Tesamu laughed.

"I thought you'd say that. Now, I'll untie you if you promise not to attack me. If you do, they both die."

"I-I promise. W-what do I have to do?"

"Well, we haven't officially broken up yet, and… A man and his girlfriend tend to do certain activities together. I think you know what to do."

"I-I…" Yuna muttered, turning bright red. "R-right here?"

"Yes, of course. So you can show Suyi and Ikhan what a good friend you are. Don't you want them to know just how loyal you are?"

"I-I… Okay…"

"Now, hold on a minute… Ikhan is a man, just like me. I imagine he'll want me to untie at least one of his hands, right? You only need one, ahahahaha!"

All three turned a deep shade of red, but Tesamu walked over to Ikhan, untying one of his hands, each of which was tied separately.

"Now, remove your clothes, Yuna, dear. The longer you take, or rather, the slower and more sensually you do it, the longer your friends will live. Remember, they only survive as long as you are able to continue on. I can last indefinitely.

"You… I doubt you have that much fortitude. So, you know… Go slow, make it last… Enjoy it." Tesamu said, keeping his eyes on Yuna as she slowly removed her clothes. She was only wearing her pajamas. All three of them had been kidnapped from Suyi's place. They had been about to go to bed, and then Tesamu came over, gassed them with a strange gas. Now they all had terrible migraines and they passed out cold.

Although Yuna was quietly crying, she didn't let her fear and humiliation show as she removed her pajama top one button at a time, going as slowly as she dared. In truth, she just wanted to get it over with. But she knew that the longer she lasted, the longer her friends would last. She didn't doubt for a minute that Shinwoo and the others would come. She had total faith in them. She just wondered what was holding them up.

Finally, her shirt came off, and she began to untie her pajama bottoms. Suyi noticed that Ikhan was getting hard. Although he was a deep red color, embarrassed that he was in this position, he refused to masturbate like Tesamu expected, though.

"Good… Now, pull down my pants. I'm getting pretty hard." Tesamu said, grabbing Yuna's arms and bringing them toward his pants.

She nodded helplessly, and pulled his pants down slowly, taking his penis in her hand. It was disgustingly big. She couldn't imagine how that was going to fit inside her.

"Good, now, put it in your mouth… But… Play with yourself while you're at it. We want you to be ready as well. I'm taking your virginity, I assume, but I don't want it to hurt too much. I'm not that much of a monster." Tesamu said, although the kids thought that they would beg to differ.

Yuna knelt down and began playing with her clit even as she opened her mouth as wide as it would go, and began licking and kissing the tip of Tesamu's penis, beginning to take it into her mouth, taking as much time as she could, never quite going more than an inch down on it. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Tesamu growled, and grabbed Yuna's head, burying all 11 inches in her mouth, shooting his seed straight down her throat, causing her to gag, and nearly vomit his seed back up.

Yuna had already come several times, having played with herself rather intensely. Tesamu sighed with contentment, but pushed Yuna down on the ground, facing away from him.

"Okay, now, I'm going to enter you, now… Unless… The fashion model would like to replace her. There's plenty of me to go around, after all…"

"You cocky, arrogant piece of shit!" Ikhan yelled.

"How dare you treat my friends this way! Shinwoo will kill you! He'll never lose to a freak like you!"

"Well, that's… Certainly a possibility. I've seen Shinwoo's talent. He's quite prodigious. But, I'm afraid that for now, if you want to stay alive, you'll have to cooperate with me… All of you.

"No, fashion model? You don't want to take Yuna's place? Well, no matter. Yuna, do you want it in front or behind… I'll let you decide. Behind will hurt more, but… At least it will preserve your virtue to a degree, right? It's up to you."

"B-behind, please… I-I don't want to get pregnant…" Yuna whimpered, going down on all fours, and facing away from Tesamu, who smirked and walked up behind her, his penis already rock hard again. Tesamu prepared to enter her ass, but never got a chance, because he was kicked in the side of the head, and sent flying.

"Get away from my friends, you sicko freak!" The voice yelled.

A/N: Thank you for sitting through this rather disturbing chapter. It was disturbing even for me. But it was meant to display the depravity of Tesamu, even under the thin veneer of sophistication.


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter Twenty-Six

All four of them looked up and saw Shinwoo standing there like a glowing white knight, ready for combat with Frankenstein, Raizel and the others. Shinwoo was holding a long, heavy looking pipe, walking toward the group, glaring hatefully at Tesamu, who was pulling up his pants.

"How dare you treat my friends so shamefully? You don't have the right to even breathe on Yuna, much less touch her with your filthy hands! Now, I've brought my friends."

"Excellent. I'm so gratified to see you, Professor… And of course, the Professor's friends… Tell me, M-21… What _is_ your name? It would be nice to be able to address you properly." Tesamu said, acting as though there was nothing wrong at all. Yuna had hurried away, and untied Ikhan and Suyi, and hurried both of them out of the schoolyard while the group faced off.

"What business is it of yours?" M-21 growled, enraged that Tesamu had treated anyone, much less a friend, so badly.

"Well, I was just curious. I never actually checked the data. I could have, but I figured it was your right to see it first. I could force you to tell me. But I don't want to have to."

"I'd like to see you try." M-21 said with a smirk. He had been working with Frankenstein for over a year, now, on resisting even high level mind control. He was sure that he could at least put up a fight against Tesamu, who was not only younger than Frankenstein by a great deal most likely, but also less experienced.

"Well, I accept your challenge." Tesamu said in a voice barely above a whisper, and looked directly into M-21's eyes.

Suddenly, only Tesamu and M-21 existed for M-21.

"Now… Tell me your name, M-21… If you would be so kind…" Tesamu said, again, whispering. But his voice boomed in M-21's head, an inescapable command.

"Linus Jensen…" M-21 said in a dull, lifeless tone.

"Tell me… Did you find out whose heart did Crombel implant in you?"

"Unspecified female werewolf specimen A-0017392."

"Okay… Well, that's all the information I need. You are free…" Tesamu said. M-21, or Linus blinked rapidly, regaining his bearing.

"You just made a big mistake, Tesamu… I'm so disappointed in you." Linus, or M-21 said with a wide smirk. Tesamu looked around just as a bullet struck him in the head and another one struck him in the back, drilling into his flesh and bursting inside him. Tesamu gasped, but then laughed.

"Explosive bullets? Impressive power, but useless against a biouser. You should know that. Shame on you, Professor." Tesamu said. Frankenstein shrugged.

"Well, then heal yourself." Frankenstein said with a laugh. Tesamu focused solely on healing. He knew that healing would happen passively, but he wanted it to happen as quickly as possible so he could destroy them next, and absorb Shinwoo and all the Biomass and power that he had. Tesamu had figured from the start that he may not be able to convince Shinwoo to join the Union. But he could at least get all of the knowledge that Shinwoo had.

Of course, that would include all the knowledge that Shinwoo had about Frankenstein and those he protected. There was no way that he could lose to a novice like Shinwoo. Tesamu smiled condescendingly at Shinwoo.

"Han Shinwoo… Please, I have no desire to fight you. Turning you into a Biouser was a gift. I knew that you would survive and thrive, even. And I can see that I was right, as I knew I would be.

"I am aware that you are happy with Seira. But why limit yourself to one woman? You should spread your power to the world. If you impregnate five women, each of the children will be Biousers. Soon, the Union could have an army of Natural Biousers. It's human nature to believe that you should only have one partner. But you are not human. You are beyond human, above human. Surely you understand that?" Tesamu asked. Shinwoo sighed.

"I have no desire for anyone but Seira. I spent years chasing a girl that I know now would never feel the way I felt. But it's important that she had the right to… Why am I having this conversation with you? You only understand one thing. Superior power. Unfortunately, whether or not you understood words, I would have to kill you. You hurt my friends. You tried to rape one of them. I find that unacceptable. I will be the one to take you down."

"Hm… Sad, but… Inevitable, I suppose. I guess I saw this coming. Well, I'll allow you the first move, Han Shinwoo… It's just the kind of guy I am." Tesamu said, holding his arms out generously.

Shinwoo smirked, and teleported to his friends' side, seeing that Yuna had managed to get dressed again, and teleporting away with all of them, taking them to Frankenstein's house.

"Stay here… Yuna… I'm so sorry that this had to happen. I would never have had that happen to you… I…"

"I know, Shinwoo… Thank you for coming for us. Please don't die…" Yuna said, hugging Shinwoo tightly, tears flooding her chocolate brown eyes. Shinwoo nodded, and teleported away.

"Sorry for the delay. I had to ensure my friends' safety first. I think you would agree that was paramount." Shinwoo said, teleporting right above Tesamu, and gripping his head between his knees, flipping him over in the air, electrocuting him as he threw him to the ground. As Tesamu crashed into the concrete, he gasped in rage and frustration. He was healing a bit slower than usual.

He was almost completely healed by now, but it was irritating that it was taking this long. Tesamu used electromagnetism to force the bullet out of himself, and use his regeneration to force the antiviral agent to pass.

"What did you do to me!?" Tesamu raged.

"Why, whatever could you mean?" Frankenstein asked, taking out his Dark Spear.

"Frankenstein… I give you permission to break your seal…" Raizel said serenely. Frankenstein smirked sadistically.

"Yes, Master…" He said, his deathlike aura radiating out of him, becoming stronger. Tesamu had never seen this aspect of Frankenstein. He had seen his brilliance. He had seen his capability in combat. But he had never seen the Dark Spear, so he had never prepared for it.

Suddenly, seven tiny bolts of dark energy from the spear were skewering Tesamu, and Shinwoo had created a huge amount of plasma, and engulfed an arm and a leg of Tesamu's in pure plasma, vaporizing the limbs. Tesamu fell to the ground, his limbs quickly beginning to regenerate. Tesamu clapped sardonically.

"I'm impressed, Han Shinwoo… I didn't expect you to be that powerful already. You've gained excellent control over your powers. But you can't possibly defeat me.

"It was wonderful to be in Yuna's mouth, though. I had hoped to go all the way with her. But I can accept that I only got what you modern humans call a blowjob."

"I'll kill you! I'LL KILL YOU!" Shinwoo roared, enraged, running at Tesamu, his powers fully charged, including his Anger Manipulation Aura, which was charged at full blast. Frankenstein stepped in front of Shinwoo, though punching him hard in the stomach, using several pressure points to immobilize him.

"Calm yourself, Shinwoo. I can take over from here. Tesamu… I am sorry that we have to end our relationship like this. I believed that I had lost an apprentice when Urokai gave me your necklace. But, in fact, I gained a future enemy. You were important to me, Tesamu… I cared about you. It hurts me to have to destroy you."

"If I matter so much to you, why don't you just join the Union? You'll be one of our top agents! You could be an Elder in no time! The other Elders… They're not so bad. We had our run of bad Elders. But you shouldn't hold the sins of a few against all of us! Think of what we could share! Think of what we could teach you, and consequently, what you could teach us! Your master could be in the Union as well!"

"How dare you! _How dare_ you suggest that Master join an organization as odious as yours! Master bows to nobody! He would never obey someone like you!" Frankenstein screamed, his aura beginning to fluctuate. Suddenly, Frankenstein was on the move, and he came in on Tesamu from behind, almost skewering him with his Dark Spear. At that moment, Takeo also shot an antiviral bullet, hitting Tesamu in the leg, slowing him slightly.

If Takeo had learned anything from watching Shinwoo's Biomass Manipulation evolve, though, he had learned that the bullet trick wouldn't work for long. He had maybe a few chances left at most. Tesamu's body would begin to make its flesh too dense to be pierced by a bullet, and become immune to antivirals. He would need to shoot explosive bullets in the future.

And even those wouldn't work forever. There was only so long really that any bullet could work on someone who could constantly modify themselves to make themself resistant to attack, and potentially immune, if he had enough biomass. Frankenstein was doing well dealing with him, though. Tesamu was faster, and stronger than Frankenstein. But Frannkenstein had the skill gained from hundreds of years of practical combat experience. So Tesamu's raw power counted for less.

Frankenstein inflicted minor wounds that would begin to add up. Both Tao and Takeo, and indeed, even M-21 had seen the effects of Frankenstein's Dark Spear. It caused one's natural healing to slow, and potentially even cease. Jake and Mary had both suffered wounds from it, and been shocked by the fact that their wounds were not sealing as rapidly as they usually did. Jake had to go back to the Union base, and have work done on him specifically to heal his wounds, and Mary didn't last long enough to escape from Frankenstein.

"Your wounds… They don't seem to be healing as quickly, Tesamu. Certainly more quickly than a normal human. They've already stopped bleeding. But you should get them looked at. Shinwoo, are you feeling calmer, now?" Frankenstein asked. Shinwoo nodded.

"Good, then you can fight him again if you must." Frankenstein said. Shinwoo jumped into the air, seeming to disappear in a flicker of light, even his aura disappearing. There was no trace of him. Tesamu looked around, to try to find him, but failed until suddenly, there was a blade in his back. Shinwoo reappeared, and ripped the biomass blade from the wound, causing Tesamu to growl in pain.

Shinwoo fell back again, prepared to attack once more. He had coated the blade in a nerve toxin that hopefully would slow Tesamu's healing. Sure enough, Tesamu's healing seemed to be slowing slightly, although that was hardly a guarantee of victory. Shinwoo was eminently talented in combat, both from taking knowledge, and having his own skill. But Tesamu had far more experience.

Shinwoo moved quickly, and grabbed Tesamu's chest, his fingers lengthening so that he could grip the whole thing. He then activated his molecular acceleration power, and caused the blood and the organs to heat up rapidly to a boil. Tesamu roared in pain as his blood boiled and his organs burst as blood turned to steam, and bloated his body. Soon, a horrible red blood mist began rising off of his body from every pore.

Fortunately for Tesamu, though unfortunately for Shinwoo, Tesamu activated his telekinesis and blasted Shinwoo away, healing far less rapidly than he would have liked, but fast enough that within a minute of simply dodging Shinwoo's attacks, he was almost fully healed, albeit with a reddened complex. That was quickly disappearing as well, though.

"I'm deeply impressed, Han Shinwoo. Being able to bypass my natural defenses, and make my blood boil, my organs explode. It's lucky that my heart didn't explode. If it did… Well, it would take me a while to stand back up. However, I think it's time we ended this unfunny tomfoolery. Really, you are far more talented than I expected you to be. However, you are as nothing compared to me." Tesamu said, a sudden shove from a heavy, strong hand hit Shinwoo.

However, it was reflected back at Tesamu, who stopped it mid-strike.

"Impressive. Regokinesis. Let's put that to the test, what say you?" Tesamu asked, moving quickly into Shinwoo's space, but being moved immediately away. Or maybe… No. Space had been generated between Shinwoo and Tesamu via a completely different power from teleportation.

It wasn't that he had been moved. Rather, it was more like they were on a Chess board, and five extra spaces had been spontaneously generated between the two of them. In the next moment, Shinwoo was immediately upon Tesamu, using the same power, grabbing his opponent, and generating high levels of gravity so that Tesamu couldn't move as easily. However, Shinwoo seemed to be moving even faster, and more agilely.

Was it possible that Shinwoo had generated higher gravity upon him, but lowered the gravity upon himself? His control over his powers was fantastic. In the next moment, Shinwoo let out a powerful telepathic call to all the rats in or near Seoul. Suddenly, Tesamu heard a strange chittering sound, and found that millions upon millions of rats were storming into the school grounds, having been moved subconsciously by Shinwoo from fifteen different cities and suburbs around Seoul.

This whole bizarre scenario reminded Tesamu of that HP Lovevraft story, The Rats in the Walls.

 _Attack my enemy! Devour him completely!_ Shinwoo commanded of the rats. Suddenly, the rats chittered at Tesamu and rushed him, leaping at him, and scratching and biting, losing many of their numbers, but making small damage to Tesamu, and causing a distraction at least.

Tesamu then used his regokinesis in the immediate area of Tesamu, engulfing him in plasma, along with the rats, who screeched in agony as they were consumed by the incredibly hot mass. Eventually, after a few minutes of keeping Tesamu in the plasma, he released it, dispelling it completely, and seeing a mere skeleton, charred, and completely free of flesh or muscle on it.

"Wow… I didn't think that even your skeleton would remain. A testament to your age and experience." Shinwoo said. He turned around, not paying attention to the skeleton anymore. However, as he turned his back, Tesamu's body began to repair itself, soon returning completely to normal. Tesamu looked down, seeing that he was completely naked. Making clothes out of biomass that he formed from rats that he consumed, he moved silently and quickly, stabbing Shinwoo in the back, severing his spinal cord, and piercing his heart.

Shinwoo gasped, and fell to the ground. Raizel, who had been completely quiet up until now, walked over to Shinwoo, kneeling down before him, looking him in the eye. He said nothing, but his message was clear. He touched Shinwoo on the forehead, and suddenly, knowledge of powers previously unknown to him rushed into his mind. He had healed already, and he stood, facing Tesamu.

"Your powers… You don't belong with normal humans, Shinwoo… You are better than them, beyond them… They should be nothing to you. Even the Nobles should be nothing to you. You are as a god. Who but a god can summon any power in existence at will? Who but a god can claim mastery over life and death? Who but a god can absorb other living beings at will and use them to make itself more powerful?

"You are not a man. You need to stop acting like one!" Tesamu yelled.

"You need to start acting like the god that you are!"

"You're wrong." Shinwoo said calmly. "I am just a man. I love like a man. I have human weakness like a man. I… Need my friends more than I need some dubious state of godhood. I won't join you. Frankenstein… Tell me… Are you the doctor, Victor Frankenstein?"

"I was. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley simply relayed stories that she had heard of me. You should focus on the battle. Master has given you a great gift. Use it well." Frankenstein. Shinwoo nodded, turning to Tesamu.

"Thank you for waiting for me to finish talking. That was very nice of you." Shinwoo said, smiling politely. Tesamu bowed obligingly.

"Of course. It wouldn't be very fair if I didn't. May we finish the battle, now?"

"I think so. It's clear to me that I'll need to pull out all the stops if I'm to defeat you." Shinwoo said, adopting a Tai Chi stance, and lifting his arms, forcing Tesamu's arms to lift as well, lifting his body into the air.

"Hemokinesis… Highly impressive." Tesamu said. Shinwoo then used a combination of his Hemokinesis and Absolute Zero cryokinesis to freeze Tesamu's blood, causing his organs to all explode. He then watched Tesamu collapse to the ground. Shinwoo waited for Tesamu to stir, as he knew he would, then used his Absorption power to assimilate the former First Elder.

Suddenly, Shinwoo felt a pang in his mind. Tesamu's will was fighting for dominance. Shinwoo fell to the ground, sitting in a Lotus Position, focusing in his mind, drowning out the world around him, and focusing everything he had on the battle of wills that was to take place. Fortunately for Shinwoo, his Biomass Manipulation had just been upgraded to Bioenergy Manipulation, leaving Tesamu slightly at a loss to understand the vast ocean of power that Shinwoo possessed.

Raizel and Muzaka both stood and watched as Shinwoo sat there, meditating, twitching occasionally, muttering under his breath. After a seemingly interminable time, in which even Raizel was paying rapt attention to the mental battle, occasionally tuning in mentally to see how it was going, Shinwoo's eyes opened. He looked different, though… Ever so slightly. One of his eyes had a halo of golden around his pupil, the same color as Tesamu's eyes.

"Here, Frankenstein… I know that you and he were close. I figured you would want this. So I took it after the mental battle." Shinwoo said, handing Frankenstein the necklace that had once been so important to Tesamu. To think that all these years later, Frankenstein would be being handed that necklace once more. Last time, it had been by Urokai, wanting to provoke Frankenstein. Now, it was handed to him by Shinwoo in all earnestness to return something important.

"Thank you, Han Shinwoo… This is… Very nice… But you should keep it. It's a nice necklace. I had it appraised about ten years ago. Silver with a small piece of a meteorite in it. It's worth a lot. You could sell it… Or… Give it as a gift…" Frankenstein said. Shinwoo seemed unsure of whether he could accept this. It had probably belonged to Frankenstein for a long time before Tesamu came back into the picture.

"I don't want it, Shinwoo… It would do me no good. It would only remind me of someone I cared about and lost. You don't want to make me sad, do you?" Frankenstein asked. Shinwoo shook his head, putting the necklace in his pocket.

"I have to get back home! Seira is there!" Shinwoo said, not bothering to hide the fact that he and Seira had been together before he went to the school.

"Don't worry about school tomorrow… I'll excuse you for the day." Frankenstein said, just as Shinwoo teleported away.

"Hey, Seira… Sorry I was so long… I… I'm afraid I had to kill someone…"

"I understand… Your left eye is different…" Seira said quietly. Shinwoo looked in a mirror and saw the golden halo.

"Oh, yeah… I guess I got that when I absorbed Tesamu… I'm tired… I'm never tired anymore, but I need to go to bed. Good night." Shinwoo said quietly, trudging up to bed, and falling asleep almost instantly.

Seira smiled. She was happy that this incident was over. But she didn't doubt that it was actually far from over. Something bigger would come, and they would best be prepared for it… Else it would swallow them whole.

 **The End**


End file.
